Asheville – “Accounting for $40,000 in cleanup and recovery costs and $30,000 in lost sales for 2024, Helene-related damages and losses constituted 88 percent of the average WNC farm’s gross annual sales,” concluded a report from the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP) Local Food Research Center. Part 1 of the report, which estimates damages, was published in May. Research is ongoing for Part 2, which will identify gaps in safety nets for small farmers in WNC and recommend remedial actions.
ASAP is a nonprofit organization that has certified nearly 900 small, family-owned farms producing for local markets as Appalachian Grown (AG). Two-thirds of these farms are located in WNC, and ASAP collected extensive data from applications for their Immediate Needs Grants. Additional data was gathered later through their Annual Appalachian Grown Producer Survey, along with information obtained from phone calls and “farmer-to-farmer facilitated meetings.”
The report primarily focuses on the farmers it serves but occasionally extrapolates to estimate regional impacts. It is important to note that most statistics apply only to farmers who could have sustained losses in any category. In other words, they do not represent the percentage of farmers who lost poultry but rather the percentage of poultry farmers who lost poultry.
Farmers not only lost field crops and animals; they also lost food stored in coolers, irrigation machinery, and water. Like many others, they experienced trees falling on their buildings and vehicles. Many farm vehicles were uninsured because the state does not require insurance for vehicles that do not leave the farm. Located in remote, rural areas, many farmers had single-access roads or bridges destroyed along with their foundations. Markets closed, and restaurants were ordered to shut down. Not only did the local farm-to-table industry come to a halt, but small farmers also found themselves unable to access government relief programs designed by powerful lobbyists to support large farmers or even meet the high deductibles on their affordable insurance policies.
Eighty-six percent of AG producers responding to surveys reported that Helene damaged physical assets. Sixty-nine percent of the damages pertained to the land itself, including expenses incurred from removing debris, replacing rich topsoil that was washed away or contaminated, dealing with contaminated water sources or reserves, regrading the land, restoring rivers, and more. Sixty-five percent of damages were related to annual crop losses, while 62 percent involved damaged barns, greenhouses, roads, washing and packing facilities, and other structures. Other physical losses included perennials, animals, feed, and equipment.
When asked about the extent of the damage, “very few lost everything.” Most estimated that damages across all categories were under 25% of total holdings. The average estimated recovery cost was around $40,000. Extrapolating this to the entire USDA Census region, damages were estimated at $313 million, “which doesn’t account for lost sales.”
The report examined both actual crop losses for 2024 and estimated crop losses for 2025. It was noted that the hurricane struck during the transition between summer and fall crops. Summer crops were destroyed, and harvested crops rotted due to lack of refrigeration, impassable routes to markets, or markets being closed outright. Newly planted winter seeds washed away with the soil. Sixty-two percent of farmers reported sales losses, and 39 percent anticipated losses in 2025 “while they rebuilt and replanted.” Many farmers reported no sales losses; however, most of these were neither in the path of the hurricane nor adjacent to a flooding waterway.
While most farmers estimated that they had lost less than 25% of their crops, the average estimated value of crop loss for 2024 was $17,000, and the average projected crop loss for 2025 was $18,000. Estimated losses from market closures averaged $13,000. Extrapolating this to the region suggests that sales losses would total $262 million. Part 2 is being undertaken because the average respondent typically grosses only $80,000 in sales. Quotes pulled from surveys reflect a mix of despair and hope from mutual aid societies and individuals sharing resources during a time of widespread hardship.