Tony Botticello was just about to start picking corn when the flood water started rushing over his farmland.
鈥淲e haven't picked an ear yet and it's gone,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hat am I going to do?鈥�
His Glastonbury farm sits on the banks of the 黑料新闻 River, which has been engorged with floodwater from northern New England.
Botticello pointed to a path submerged in water. Hundreds of acres are ruined. Orderly green rows of crops blend into brown water.
鈥淭his was a field of pumpkins; it's all gone,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ver on the other side of that tree, that was a hay lot right there. That鈥檚 gone. All under water.鈥�
Farmers along the 黑料新闻 River are experiencing significant losses from recent flooding. The river, the longest in New England, is filled with floodwater from storms that hit Vermont with heavy rainfall and catastrophic damage.
For 黑料新闻 farmers along the river, the timing couldn't have been worse. They were just days away from harvest 鈥� only to see flood waters rise and slowly wipe out their entire crop.
The river began flooding . Heavy rains in Vermont sent entire trees, boulders and through 黑料新闻.
It鈥檚 dirty water. And when that water touches crops, .
鈥淚f it touches the ears at all 鈥� it鈥檚 gone,鈥� Botticello said. 鈥淭he bacteria in there is just disgusting. It鈥檚 sewage, you know.鈥�
On the other side of the 黑料新闻 River, in Rocky Hill, Francis Whelan, with Hayes Farm, stood before a path leading to his fields of corn and hay. It鈥檚 about a mile inland, but the water was lapping at his shoes.
鈥淭his is going to take weeks to go down 鈥� to even get in there to see how much damage is there,鈥� he said. 鈥淣othing, I think, is salvageable anyhow, at this point.鈥�
When farmers heard the water was coming, they moved fast to save tractors and other valuable gear, Whelan said.
鈥淪o on Monday, we all started, it was like a mass evacuation of farm machinery,鈥� he said. 鈥淪omething you never see. And it was very stressful for the farmers.鈥�
Farmers spent weeks dumping seed and sweat into the ground, and they were just about to start the summer harvest.
鈥淎ll of your expenses are accruing till just a couple of weeks ago, before you can actually start making money,鈥� said Bryan Hurlburt, commissioner of the state Department of Agriculture. 鈥淎 flood event like this wipes out all of that work.鈥�
Hurlburt toured damage and estimated 2,000 acres of farms were underwater near the river.
This type of flooding can lead some to walk away from their farms, said Shuresh Ghimire, an extension educator and vegetable specialist at the University of 黑料新闻.
Ghimire travels the state helping farmers. They鈥檙e used to Mother Nature being a chaos agent. Still, lately, it鈥檚 been tough.
鈥淭here is no single year that is really great for farmers; there are always challenges,鈥� Ghimire said. 鈥淏ut, this year, the extremes has been, in my opinion, very problematic.鈥�
A late May frost wiped out crops of peaches, apples and strawberries. Then, Canadian wildfires blanketed the region in smoke, making outdoor work nearly impossible, so some farmers couldn鈥檛 get to their fields.
The costs are still being figured out. Even before the flooding, federal officials say the country already had seen a dozen climate disasters this year, each costing .
Back in Glastonbury, Botticello looked out at his flooded field. Hundreds of thousands of dollars lost, he said. He鈥檚 farmed on the banks of the 黑料新闻 River since the 1980s. It鈥檚 some of the Northeast鈥檚 most fertile farmland.
Despite what鈥檚 happened in recent days, he鈥檚 thinking ahead.
鈥淪ee, that鈥檚 鈥� that鈥檚 the thing about farmers,鈥� he said. 鈥淢y dad used to say, if you want to gamble, don't go to a casino. Put all your money in the ground and see if it grows, you know? That鈥檚 gambling. And that鈥檚 what we do.
鈥淪o, next year.鈥�
Video by Francesca Fontanez and Dave Wurtzel
