The Long Recovery: Farmers and Hurricane Helene

In “The Long Recovery: Farmers and Hurricane Helene,” Gravy reporter Irina Zhorov looks at how North Carolina farmers are building back after Hurricane Helene and finds that many still have a long way to go. The storm hit in late September, 2024. It killed at least 250 people and left nearly $80 billion worth of damage, the majority of that in mountainous western North Carolina. Farmers, who work flood-prone bottomlands and steep slopes in the high country, suffered catastrophic losses. There are thousands of farms in the region, which prides itself on its local foodways and strong network of producers. On many of these farms the floodwaters either deposited feet of sand on fields or washed away topsoil, sometimes to the bedrock—it just depended on where in a creek’s bend their land lay. Soil takes hundreds of years to form and is a farmer's most important asset, but it's not yet clear how to address the effects of such dramatic land shifts. Extension agents are recommending farmers try planting special crops that help pump nutrients back into the dirt, but these cover crops can take years to show results. Many farmers would have a hard time financially taking fields out of production for extended periods. They also worry that their buyers may not wait that long before seeking produce from other farms. Still, it's not all bad. The storm did such dramatic damage that some farmers are starting almost from scratch and using that as an opportunity to build back better. Maybe that means putting in modern apple varieties, updating trellis systems, or changing the crops they grow. One farmer we spoke to is refocusing her farm on agribusiness and increasing her flower plantings. Another farmer is working to develop a method of growing raspberries that would use an annual rotation, like with tomatoes, rather than maintaining shrubs for a decade, which requires labor-intensive pruning and would leave them susceptible to potential future storms. This year, farmers have largely been cleaning up, evaluating, and figuring out how to proceed. The longer work of rebuilding could stretch for years to come. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices