HARVESTING HOPE: Rebuilding the Agricultural Community after Hurricane Helene
By Anna Haydel
North Carolina is among the top states for diversification of crops in the country. The High Country, more specifically Watauga County, relies heavily on the diverse agriculture industry for economic health and community engagement. September 27, 2024 changed all of that.
County extension director, referring to when Hurricanes Frances and Ivan swept through the mountains of western North Carolina in 2004.
“I saw power lines down, saw where the larger creek was cresting that was flowing into Boone, and that’s when I realized it was going to be bad.”
When Hurricane Helene worked its way through the mountains of western North Carolina, it destroyed many acres of farmland in her path. As a result, the agriculture community has suffered great losses and faces a long future of rebuilding ahead.
“Hearing that there was a hurricane passing over, I assumed, well, this is just one hurricane, we went through two,” said Jim Hamilton, the Watauga
Watauga County is home to several organizations that directly support and assist local farmers and producers.
Following the storm, many of these organizations collaborated with others in the agriculture industry to provide for locals’ needs.
The NC Cooperative Extension is an organization that originated from the land-grant university system. North Carolina State University and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University serve as the two landgrant universities in North Carolina.
The cooperative extension has an
office in each of the 100 counties in North Carolina, as well as in the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. This organization facilitates county offices in taking research developed by the two universities and applying it in their agricultural communities.
In the days, weeks and months following the storm, the Watauga County office played a vital role in the rebuilding of the agriculture industry. “My first thought was, I need to check on people,” said Kendra Phipps, extension agent for the Watauga County office.
Right after the storm, Phipps focused her efforts on making contact with all of the farmers and producers who work with the extension to figure out essential needs for the agricultural community.
The first call outside of local farmers and producers was to the executive director of the North Carolina Cattlemen’s Association.
Phipps expressed the immediate need for temporary fencing to contain livestock, as many farms experienced damage to their enclosures.
Calls were pouring in from agricultural communities, some as far as Arizona, offering donations for western North Carolina farmers and producers. The Watauga County office quickly realized that they were going to need to establish a place for donations to be dropped off and then distributed. Contact was made with the Brown family, the owners of Corbett’s Produce in Deep Gap, as they had a flat, easy-to-access piece of land in a part of the county less affected by the storm. This area became the distribution center, welcoming countless trucks full of donations.
As Hurricane Helene became
