As the latest storm associated with a strong atmospheric river sweeps through California, already strained farmers across the state are bracing for yet another setback.
The rounds of atmospheric river events have decimated crops and reduced work opportunities for many of the state’s farmers, who lack access to social safety nets.
Hernan Hernandez, executive director of the nonprofit California Farmworker Foundation, tells Axios that lasting structural damages from the rounds of storms are compounding with the loss of work for farmers, particularly in Monterey, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.
“Our concern is that we had a storm three, four weeks ago, right? It was bad, but it was nowhere near what we’re seeing today,” says Hernandez.
For many farmers, Hernandez says, “whole [crop] seasons are gone” and homes are “literally uninhabitable.”
Hundreds of acres of strawberries—one of California’s staple crops—in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties were submerged during last week’s floods.
This week, thousands have been forced to evacuate ahead of the 12th atmospheric river since late December to hit the state’s flood-ravaged areas. (Atmospheric rivers are long, narrow bands of air that can carry water vapor for thousands of thousands.)
This follows January’s deadly storms, which caused thousands of farmers to lose weeks of income and fueled a food crisis for the more than 90% of immigrants that make up California’s farmworker workforce.
“Farmworkers cannot afford rent, and when you’re telling them ‘Hey, either your season got delayed for those few crops that were left,’ or ‘Now your season is completely gone’ … then they’re waking up and thinking , ‘How am I going to make ends meet?'” says Hernandez.
President Biden approved the state of California’s emergency declaration request on March 10, making federal disaster assistance available to supplement state, tribal and local response efforts, per FEMA.
Federal disaster assistance is largely only available to people with “housing, business or personal property damaged” — which leaves out many farmers actively navigating loss of livelihood due to the floods.
Farmworkers face “limited” access to “FEMA-type resources,” according to Amy Liebman, chief program officer at the Migrant Clinicians Network.
And for the public services they are eligible for in the aftermath of a disaster, like community clinics or emergency food banks, Liebman says there’s a high likelihood that farmers without documentation avoid these resources as they “operate out of fear.”
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