Flooded Asheville-area farmers: "A lot of money just flushed away"

HENDERSONVILLE — Randy Edmundson of Edmundson Produce Farm figures he's only seen Shaws Creek jump its banks 10 times in close to three decades.

This year, it flooded three times in a month, the wettest May on record.

With his wife, Carolyn Edmundson, he farms 110 acres of leased land, the majority on the French Broad River, the rest on the swollen Shaws.

On Wednesday morning, he estimated he had up to 70 acres underwater, drowning crops and critically delaying successive plantings.

Western North Carolina represents a small part of the produce grown nationally. But when it's too hot in other Southeastern farming regions for some produce, WNC fills that niche.

"We have buyers we deal with looking to fill that midseason gap, and if we start getting too late in planting, we're back on someone else's time," Edmundson said.

At 53, with 30 years of farming under his belt, Edmundson has endured bad weather. "If you're going to be in this business, you gotta cope, or it'll wear you out."

But this season is particularly rough: Not only did his fields flood, his produce stand flooded, too.

Up to 45 acres of sweet corn will be lost this year. Two acres of strawberries, his squash beds and half of his crookneck and zucchini squash were destroyed by flash floods. Young cucumbers and tomato plants are gone.

He estimates the gross income lost from the sweet corn alone, what was growing and what he would have planted if the weather had allowed it, at somewhere between $58,000-60,000.

Now, he's just waiting for better weather. "There's nothing I can do except stay out of the wet."

Sodden strawberries are one thing, but a hidden disaster when floodwaters hit is the planting time the farmer loses, Edmundson said.

Now, he's well off his schedule. His first corn yield would have hit right around the 4th of July. "I missed that market, and you just don't get those opportunities back," he said.

There's plenty of time left to replant crops like cucumbers and summer squash, but even that isn't entirely good news.

The Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program, a federal program that provides financial assistance to producers of noninsurable crops during natural disasters, doesn't pay for crops lost when there's time to replant, Edmundson said.

"That's a lot of money just flushed away."

Still, the farmer's mind is on the future. Besides, he said, he's got plenty of company.

"Yeah, I've lost a lot, but a lot of other farmers out there are in the same boat, and can't get back in the fields either."

Now, it's all about waiting: At least four and up to eight days for the water to recede from his fields, and at least 10 good days of sunshine to really dry them out enough for a tractor to not stick in the mud.

"All I can do is put it in the hands of the good lord," he said.

Jason Davis of North River Farms said on Wednesday morning that Boylston Creek and the French Broad River, both of which run through part of the farmer's 1,500 acres, had jumped their banks.

The floods cut his strawberry yield by more than half, destroying up to 2,000 gallons, a loss he estimated as high as $20,000.

"I don't want to sound like I'm crying the blues," he emphasized. "We're going to get through this. There are people who have lost homes, lives — a life can't be replaced. Our hearts and prayers go out to those folks."

Other crops — 32 acres of celery, 15 acres of peppers, 30 acres of tomatoes — are either delayed or damaged.

Field corn and soybeans were lost, and about 30 acres will have to be completely replanted.

Add to that a shorter growing season, the labor to drain, repair and replant the fields, and 2018 is shaping up to be a very expensive year.

"This is a challenging time for all of Henderson County and Western North Carolina agriculture." he said. "But we're all strong, and we're going to keep working hard and do our best to have a good crop of local vegetables this year."

There are other commodities on North River Farms beyond vegetables. The farm does a brisk agritourism business, and all scheduled activities, including the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project's Farm Tour June 23-24, as well as a July WNC Toys for Tots fundraiser, will continue as planned, Davis said.

The farm also provides large volumes of hay to equestrian centers and alpaca farms in the Southeast. The harvest of hay, like the vegetables, is likely to be delayed this year.

Livestock owners should expect shortages in the Western North Carolina area, which could extend to the entire East Coast, and possibly the Midwest.

"Everyone's hay is just standing in the field and it's getting overripe," he said. "But we're at the mercy of the weather. You have to take the bad with the good, and you can't get frustrated and quit. You have to stick with it."

Adam McCurry, an agricultural technician for the North Carolina Cooperative Extension in Yancey County, said the South Toe River was running high Wednesday, and had breached its banks in a few areas.

Some of the best farmland is along rivers and creeks that swell with the runoff from Mount Mitchell.

"A lot of the hay crops the river got into are a total loss," McCurry said.

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Vegetable crops had also been damaged, with anything touched by floodwaters rendered unsafe for human consumption.

The rivers were at their highest since hurricanes Frances and Ivan swept through the area in 2004, he said.

Though waters had begun to recede by late Wednesday morning, more rain was in the forecast.

"We could be back in the same boat tonight, no pun intended," he said. "We may need a bigger boat."

Meanwhile, farmers were still reeling from hurricane Irma's fall visit. "A lot of them really took it on the chin."

This year, the best case scenario has local midsummer vegetable crops delayed, he said. "Everything could end up condensed more into the fall season. Your summer picnic may be missing local corn, tomatoes and beans."

McCurry himself lost an acre of broccoli, two acres of cabbage and three acres of sweet corn. The broccoli alone was worth about $5,000.

"But it's still early enough to go into a second crop," he said. "Farmers are optimists, or we wouldn't be farming."

It's too early to estimate total losses, or that of other farmers. But he did warn that the price of local produce is likely to climb.

Diseases, he added, will likely be a big problem this year, with the warm and wet weather spurring downy and powdery mildew, which could particularly impact cucurbits. Strawberry producers likely have gray mold and botrytis to look forward to.

"That's bad juju,' he said. "Fuzzy strawberries are a bad thing."

Next, early and late blight could impact tomatoes, potatoes and peppers. "We'll be contending with it throughout the entire growing season."

In the winter, the hay losses could hurt meat producers, who may have to sell off animals cheaply, or buy expensive feed.

"Unfortunately, this is the risk the people working the only occupation the world can't live without take on a daily basis," he added. "If you eat it, someone's got to grow it."

Consumers can help by buying local, he said.

"If you support a farmer, they'll stay in business, and if they stay in business, they'll be there for you through the good times and the bad times."

Good times, he hoped, were ahead. "The sun was shining earlier, and it was a very good sight."



