Help Sogn Valley Farm recover from hail damage

Hail Storm Damages

On August 10, 2020, Sogn Valley Farm was hit with a devastating hail storm that caused an estimated $100,000 in damages to crops - mainly of bell peppers, hot peppers, and field tomatoes that were to be sold wholesale to a distributor and several food processors like local hot sauce companies. The losses amount to over ⅓ of our annual gross income. 

Had this hail arrived in June, the situation would be far less dire, as plants have plenty of season left to recover and produce a crop. By early August, we have incurred nearly every cost to produce the crop, yet have not realized any income. These particular crops take the entire growing season to reach maturity, so there’s no chance of recovery this season. 

The Farm Context

We are a certified organic, diversified vegetable farm that has served our region since 2016. We grow nutritious produce that feeds hundreds of families in our community. Unlike commodity crop farmers, farms like ours do not have viable crop insurance options to protect us from the financial blow of destructive weather. Given the lack of a safety net, our strategy is to diversify our markets and grow a variety of crops that should have varying responses to extreme weather events. We also aim to farm in alignment with the natural ecosystems around us in order to incorporate resilience into our production system. We are known for finding innovative ways to enhance habitat and build soil health on our farm. These practices have undoubtedly helped us through other tough times financially, but they won’t be able to save us this time.

We have a few different sources of revenue, one of which is our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Many of the crops that we grow for their weekly shares were also damaged. Members agree to share in some of the risks of farming, and we are so thankful for our members who are providing us some degree of a financial buffer as we face extensive crop loss. However, CSA income accounts for about 50% of our revenue, and we still have a gaping hole in our budget from the losses of wholesale revenue.

We incur a lot of upfront costs to produce a crop before we can get a return on the investment. In addition to the normal frontloading of expenses that is common with almost all annual cropping systems, our crop losses come on the heels of several large investments we made in the last 18 months, including drilling an irrigation well and buying a nearby house so that we could attract and retain year-round, salaried employees. We needed to make these types of investments to allow our business to thrive and be competitive in the long run. These investments were made with the confidence that the work we put into caring for our crops would turn into a certain planned revenue, as it has in previous years.

Despite our best efforts to build risk management into our cropping system, the economic toll from this hail storm has been severe. We are unlikely to recover without some type of financial assistance.

How You Can Help

We’ve penciled out a revised budget with substantial cuts, but it leaves us far short of recovering from the losses incurred from the storm. We hope to raise $50,000 through this campaign. Your donation will keep us out of crippling debt that would hinder our viability as a business. Please help us continue to farm beyond this season. 

We have been overwhelmed by our suddenly-changed circumstances, and equally overwhelmed by the caring response from members of our community. The emotional support has been tremendously uplifting. Many of you have asked how you can help. We have a few ideas for how to raise funds, which you can read about in this blog post on our website . Supporting those fundraising efforts will help, but we humbly ask that you also consider making a donation of any size through this Go Fund Me campaign

We are grateful for contributions from any of you who have the means to donate. We are well aware that we live in a time when so many people are in need — from those hurt financially during this pandemic to those harmed by systematic racial oppression. We deeply appreciate you helping us get back on our feet by donating or sharing our story with others in your life who might be able to help.

Yours,

Dana and Karin Jokela

Some photos of the hail damage: