Gibbs Berry Farm in Mason has suffered from the spastic weather conditions in Michigan.
“There are some places that have gotten rain, but I happen to be in a strip here where we’ve only got rain once in July and June, it wasn’t much, but it helped things some - but things are in tough shape,” owner Donald Gibbs said.
The farmer is struggling to make certain he doesn’t loose his crop and has been struggling to stay afloat.
“I’m a strawberry and raspberry grower, and we’ve been irrigating like mad. We did have a lot of strawberry damage due to the severe cold, but still we had a fair crop.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced 50 counties in Michigan as agricultural disaster areas July 16.
The declared areas have been hit hard by adverse weather conditions since the week of April 14 when Michigan experienced severe frost and freezing temperatures.
Cold temperatures, hail, wind and excess rain throughout May continued to cause extensive crop damage.
The weather has forced some farmers to look into federal loans to help make it through.
“I don’t want to get a loan because how in the hell would I pay it back?” Gibbs said.
“I’ve been able to help myself through my own irrigation, but these farmers that don’t have any irrigation, it’s terror - it’s a difficult situation.”
The county directors in our office along with the Natural Resources Conservation Service evaluate the weather conditions, said Laurie Tupper, program specialist for the Michigan Farm Service Agency.
If there have been any crop losses greater than 30 percent, then a request is made to the governor to for a specific region to be considered a disaster, she said.
Evaluations began in early June for the current designated disaster-areas.
The 26 designated counties as primary disaster areas include Ingham, Jackson, Livingston and Shiawassee counties.
Twenty-four other counties also are eligible for assistance because they are contiguous.
These include Clinton and Eaton counties.
Ingham County is not a big fruit producing county, but the Michigan Farm Service Agency has been advised of losses in grapes and apples, with the estimated yield for apples at a 50-percent loss.
“They estimate nearly all the grapes are lost,” Tupper said. “They only have two acres of grapes so only a very small production will be there.”
But Gibbs is struggling to make certain he doesn’t lose his crop of fruits.
Farmers in designated counties are immediately eligible for emergency farm loans provided by the agriculture department and the Farm Service Agency.
These emergency loans help producers recover from production and physical losses because of drought, flooding and other natural disasters.
If farmers have lost enough of their crops, they can contact the USDA and get help on how to get a loan, said Tim Perry, farm loan specialist from the Michigan Farm Service Agency.
There are certain stipulations that have to be established before a loan can be granted.
Farmers must have suffered at least a 30 percent loss in crop production or a physical loss to livestock, real estate or chattel property.
The loan can be up to 100 percent of their crop loss, and up to a maximum of $500,000.
“We do have certain time guidelines that we do have to keep within, which is 60 days from the time we receive the application to actually approval for the loan,” Perry said.
