Five Democratic U.S. representatives from California are calling on the White House to include disaster relief funds for their state’s farmers and growers in their forthcoming supplemental request for domestic priorities.
The lawmakers — Jim Costa, Salud Carbajal, Zoe Lofgren, Jimmy Panetta, and Julia Brownley — represent a region of California that was battered by storms and flooding in the early months of 2023, causing an estimated $1.4 billion in damages to its agricultural operations. This request is the latest step taken by the lawmakers, who have been pushing Congressional leaders to pass a relief package for agriculture damage since the spring.
They reached out through a letter to Shalanda Young, director of the Office of Management and Budget.
“It is imperative the federal government provide much-needed aid to the agricultural community to allow for a full and timely recovery. Without this desperately needed assistance, farmers will not be able to produce the country’s fruits and vegetables and the effects will be felt nationwide,” wrote the lawmakers. “Earlier this year…Several weeks of atmospheric storms brought intense rain and catastrophic flooding…. As a result, many growers did not have their fields ready to go for the traditional planting season and needed to push their timeline. Fields were also so saturated with water that they were not dry enough to plant at all this year, reducing the number of acres planted. Furthermore, many crops experienced damage earlier in the year but are just now seeing such damage physically manifest due to their inherent lengthier growing seasons and late harvest. This combination and timing of damage has made recovery much more difficult.”
Heavy rains and snowmelt caused the overfilled rivers to flood in many communities, soaking citrus groves and covering farmland in water, mud, and debris. As a result of flooding, dairy farmers had to evacuate cattle. Fields were not only saturated, but inaccessible. Citrus groves were covered in water, mud, and debris, and leafy green farmers were having to consider the process for testing for pathogens in their fields after the waters recede.
Video of the flooding impact went viral in the spring when farmers were seen driving pickup trucks into the gaps in levees to help stop the flow of water.
California lawmakers formally wrote to the leaders of the House Appropriations Committee in April requesting funds to help offset damage to California agricultural operations.
Agriculture is the number one industry in California, with nearly 70,000 farms operated on 24.3 million acres.
