Autonomy Farms Flood Relief
Autonomy Farms sits at the base of the foothills in the southern San Joaquin Valley. The farm was established in 2013 with the hope of helping people reconnect with the small family farm through education, planning family events and offering a local source for organic meat, eggs and produce. Meredith, the owner, had previously held a career in sales within the food and beverage industry and slowly became jaded over time with the disconnect between farmers and consumers. She recognized that people need to see and touch where their food comes from and set out with a goal to have a small farm where people could do just that.
As much as California farmers had needed and wanted a wet winter, the storm that hit on Friday, February 17 was more than what the farm could handle. With the overflow of several surrounding ditches, and the ground being so wet from previous storms, the 20 acre farm was hit with runoff that ruined all the vegetable crops, killed their flock of chickens and eventually covered 95% of the farm with anywhere from 1 to 4 feet of standing water. For food safety reasons, even if the crops were able to survive, they would not be able to be sold for fear of contamination from street runoff and making people ill.
Once the water eventually dries up, the farm has a long road ahead with the clean up of the several feet of silt, testing for contamination and amending the soil, replanting the crops, managing general fixed expenses without revenue from sales of the crops and partnering with local agencies to manage and build infrastructure to help reduce the risk of future floods.
While the farm has general operating and building insurance, they are unable to get crop insurance. Due to the very large rotation of varying vegetable crops and how volatile they are, insurance companies won't touch it because the risk is just too high. There is a program offered through USDA that was introduced in 2014, however, they view Kern County's year as a 2 planting season. With this said, all the crops would have had to be in the ground and filed with FSA by October 1st and March 1st. With the purchase of the land not being final until the end of July, Autonomy Farms was able to start their plantings November 1st once they were able to get the soil amended, irrigation set up and general prep of rows, so they sadly missed the deadline.
They are currently working with the Farm Service Agency to apply for grants to help recover the costs of the lost chickens and removal and clean up of the silt, replacing fencing, etc. If Kern County is given funds, all the farmers who have had damage to their properties would be able to apply for cost sharing programs. The challenges with this is that it can be a long drawn out process, the initial cost of clean up is incurred by the farmer and it is still uncertain if and/or when these programs will begin to be implemented.
At the encouragement of some friends and customers, I started this page to help Autonomy Farms and their efforts to rebuild. What they are offering the local community is important and we want to see them succeed as they continue their efforts in giving us a local and healthy source for meat, eggs and produce. We believe in what Autonomy Farms is providing and know that without our help, they may not make it past these next few months.
For more information on the farm and where to find them at local farmers markets, please visit their website at: www.autonomyfarms.com
Please consider helping the farm and sharing this post. Every dollar can help in their efforts to rebuild.
Thank you! Katie