North Carolina’s agriculture commissioner last week started sending checks to farmers who were affected by natural disasters like Hurricane Helene.
The payments are part of a $478 million allocation from a statewide Helene-relief bill. The state received more than 8,000 applications for aid after the bill was passed in March.
The money will be a “welcome relief,” said William Kelley, the Henderson County Agricultural Extension Director.
“That's actually really good news for this point in the season. You know, it's way later than we would've liked it to have been, but at least it's going to be helpful,” he said. “It's probably not gonna pay for all the damages, but it's going to be a good start, hopefully, to help pay off some bills from last year.”
After Hurricane Helene wrecked western North Carolina at the peak of apple season last year, Henderson County’s farming industry is out millions of dollars in revenue. Henderson County grows more apples than anywhere else in North Carolina and is one of the top 20 apple-growing counties in the nation.
Kelley estimates that apple farming — between wholesale, processing and agritourism farms — is a $36 million industry locally. Farms lost about a third of that because of Helene. Many farmers had to take out loans to make repairs and restore their land for the next growing season after flooding and landslides damage.
Statewide, the agricultural industry suffered almost $5 billion in losses because of natural disasters in 2024.
“Getting disaster relief out to our devastated ag community has been a priority for the department, and I appreciate farmers’ patience as we have worked through the process of verifying damage and losses and processing the over 8,500 applications we received,” Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler said.
“I want to thank members of the General Assembly for recognizing the urgency behind these funds and for continuing to support our ag community in the aftermath of the worst ag disaster this state has experienced.”
More money is on the way for farmers statewide who suffered losses from last year’s drought, Tropical Storm Debby and other storms.
