
Heavy rains have ruined tons of onions in Orange County’s Black Dirt region and in the process washed away revenue needed to pay bills due on mortgages, fertilizer, pesticides and farm equipment.
Farmers are now fearful of another storm brewing – proposed legislation that would impose additional labor costs on them.
While New York state has asked the federal government to designate the Black Dirt region a disaster area, it does not mean financial salvation for farmers, said Chris Pawelski, the third generation of his family to harvest onions.
“All that does is offer no- or low-interest loans that will only compound the financial setbacks we are already trying to cope with. Most of us are maxed out – money is needed to improve drainage; why can’t they pay farmers who lose their crops a subsidy rather than offering to loan them money many cannot afford to borrow or repay?”
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