Local Farms Vulnerable after Floods

By Odette Yousef

Atlanta, GA – As flood recovery continues, many local farmers are worried that the damage to their land may be irreparable.

WABE's Odette Yousef reports.

Judith Winfrey and her partner Joe Reynolds had just planted the fall season crops at their Love is Love farm in Douglas County when the rains came.

WINFREY: We had radishes, kale, collard greens, cabbages, lettuces.

No longer more than half of the farm's five acres are now a sloppy expanse of mud a third has become a sandy creek.

Winfrey says it washed away all the topsoil:

WINFREY: It is the majority of our growing space, so if we can't grow here again for summer, which is our big season, then it's going to completely change our business.

Winfrey estimates $8 to $10 thousand of damage, and says federal assistance programs only offer loans, rather than grants.

The non-profit Georgia Organics counts 14 farms that are in the same situation, and none of them had flood insurance.

The Georgia Flooded Farm Relief Fund is taking donations to help those farmers through the winter.

Odette Yousef, WABE News