Mass. Farmers finally getting flood relief checks
It’s the one thing a farmer needs even more than sunshine and rain: resilience.
But as Jim Lattanzi, owner of Hollis Hill Farm can attest, resilience only goes so far. And he -- and many other farmers in Massachusetts -- were pushed to the brink after last July’s torrential rains.
“I tell you, it takes the wind out of your sails when you work so hard and watch it wash away,” he said.
Lattanzi didn’t just watch it wash away last summer -- he took hits in winter and spring.
“We lost the entire peach and nectarine crop because of the February cold,” he said. “We got to blossom in May and we had significant freeze damage to our apple crop. We hit June and July, we had 20+ inches of rain and it just kept coming.”
That rain didn’t just destroy crops -- it destroyed business.
“Where we’re a U-Pick operation, the customers don’t come,” said Lattanzi. “We get everything ready, we do all of the work -- and when it rains nobody’s going to go pick blueberries or strawberries.”
This has not only been a financially challenging season for Lattanzi, but an emotionally challenging one, too.
“You only have so much energy and you try and you try and you try and it just feels like, man, it keeps coming,” he said.
Fortunately, something else is coming. Help. Thursday, Governor Maura Healey came to Hollis Hill Farm and delivered aid from a philanthropic venture known as the Farm Resiliency Fund. It was set up in the weeks after the July floods as a way to quickly raise money for beleaguered farmers.
So far, Lattanzi and more than 200 other Massachusetts farms have received aid from the fund -- which began dispersal last week -- the contributions coming from around 650 donors, big and small. For example, Liberty Mutual Insurance donated $1 million -- but Healey said there were also many small donations from individuals.
“More than one farmer has responded to the aid to say, quote, this will save our farm,” Healey said. “The effort is far from over.”
Not only will the fund remain in place and continue to accept contributions, but Massachusetts farmers will soon have access to $20 million in direct state aid.
Lattanzi said it’s heartening to know so many in Massachusetts care about local farmers.
“To know that we have the support of our governor, of our legislature, of our business partners -- to kind of come out of nowhere to say, hey, we’re here to help -- helps blow the wind back in your sails,” he said.
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