Gannon Organics farm after Hurricane Helene. Photo by Brendan Gannon.
From all of us at Georgia Organics, we’d like to give a huge heartfelt THANK YOU to everyone who supported The Farmer Fund relief campaigns in 2024. With your support, we were able to provide $95,300 in relief to 31 farmers in Georgia, primarily to cover damages to crops and infrastructure from the back-to-back storms that swept through our state last year.
In August 2024, Tropical Storm Debby caused widespread and severe flooding in Georgia. Just a month later, Hurricane Helene made landfall in the United States as a Category 4 hurricane, leaving even more widespread damage across the state and our neighbors, including North Carolina and Florida. After Helene, Georgia farmers suffered more than $5.5 billion in damages, impacting many of the small and organic farms Georgia Organics provides services for. Brendan Gannon of Gannon Organics was affected by both storms and shared, “Tropical Storm Debby, we didn't get that much wind, but we got a ton of rain. And it flooded our fields and we lost a good portion of our crops. They just kind of rotted in the ground, stayed wet for a long time. So we lost maybe like, 30 or 40% of our crops, maybe more from that.
“And then, you know over a month later we had Helene. And it was just way windier than we expected. So usually when there's a hurricane or tropical storm, I'll take the plastic off our houses, the greenhouses and stuff. But it was saying it wasn't gonna be that bad, but it kind of turned toward us as it approached Georgia and it tore apart two of our Caterpillar tunnels...everything inside of them died. All of our remaining crops got wind damage pretty bad.”
Damage to caterpillars tunnels on Gannon Organics after Hurricane Helene. Photo By Brendan Gannon.
Damage to crops after Tropical Storm Debby. Photo by Brendan Gannon.
Disasters like Hurricane Helene and Tropical Storm Debby are the reason for The Farmer Fund, an emergency relief fund established in 2015 to support farmers through hurricanes, freezes, and other unforeseen hardships. In partnership with Food Well Alliance, Wholesome Wave Georgia, Community Farmers Markets, The Common Market Southeast, and The Conservation Fund, we at Georgia Organics work to provide financial relief when farmers need it most. Today, we’re so grateful for the quick response of our supporters as we made the call for emergency relief funding.
Brendan was one of the farmers to receive support from The Farmer Fund and cites it as one of the reasons Gannon Organics was able to continue its business. “Yeah, The Farmer Fund, it really came through. Y'all are pretty speedy about it, which is nice because we needed the money pretty soon. And this helped us keep functioning, helped us pay ourselves, helped us buy more seeds, buy more fertilizer... I don't think that we would be in business now without it.”
Brendan Gannon on Gannon Organics farm. Photo by Brendan Gannon.
Thank you again for your generosity and for making a powerful impact as Georgia farmers continue the hard work of growing food for our local communities. To support The Farmer Fund directly, visit www.thefarmerfund.org. To support our work at Georgia Organics, visit www.georgiaorganics.org/donate.
After a historic and destructive hurricane season in 2024, and an above average season forecasted for 2025, backing small and organic Georgia farms is more essential than ever. We are deeply grateful for your steadfast support of our mission and the communities we are privileged to be a part of.