The severe storm that tore through Central Oregon on Saturday, May 30 has left many local farmers with severe property and crop damage. While the large hailstones damaged crops, some farmers, mostly in Jefferson county, lost entire outbuildings, greenhouses and irrigation lines. Central Oregon Locavore nonprofit responded by quickly assembling groups of volunteer work parties through one of their programs, WWOLF (Willing Workers On Local Farms), to help farmers mitigate damage to crops as well as clean up their properties and rebuild infrastructure.
Rainshadow Organics and Sakari Farms are receiving work parties this week, and Locavore is scheduling additional work parties based on farmers’ requests.
“Farming in Central Oregon is challenging enough, with the short growing season, low rainfall, volcanic soil and constant threat of early and late frosts. To have a weather catastrophe such as this has an exponential impact on our local farmers. We know of at least one farmer who provides produce to our marketplace who lost the entire crop, along with the greenhouse. They called us to let us know that they were done for the season as they would have to completely rebuild,” says Nicolle Timm-Branch, founder and president of Central Oregon Locavore. “I am hoping that by offering as many work parties as are needed, we can help the remaining farmers get back on their feet as fast as possible to minimize the impact to their operations and revenue streams for this season. Farming is definitely NOT for the faint of heart. I have so much admiration for how resilient farmers are in the face of adversity.”
More information about the WWOLF program, and upcoming opportunities to help out local farmers, can be found online at https://centraloregonlocavore.org/programs/wwolf.
Social distancing and additional measures to ensure that volunteers will be working in a safe workspace will be in place. Lunch will be provided by Central Oregon Locavore.
