Connecticut officials say $52.9 million in federal disaster relief will go to state farmers who lost crops due to severe weather in 2023 and 2024. They’ll distribute the money this fall.
The federal block grant is the result of the efforts of William Dellacamera, the owner of Cecarelli’s Harrison Hill Farm in Northford.
Dellacamera drove his farm tractor to the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. to lobby for the money after he suffered losses from a severe 13-minute hailstorm in August 2024.
He said Connecticut farmers desperately need the help at the official announcement of the release of the funds at his farm on Friday.
“It should never take 23 months after a disaster for assistance to begin reaching farmers. Crops don’t wait, employees don’t wait, loan payments don’t wait, utility payments don’t wait, the weather certainly doesn’t wait,” Dellacamera said.
“Yet somehow we ask farmers to,” he said.
U.S. Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, got the block grant passed by Congress.
“This story, Will’s story, and so many other farmers in our state who have been all relentless in fighting for what’s right proves that our government is accountable to the people,” DeLauro said.
“We may have to push them and push hard, but it can work,” she said.
The state is opening the application period for farmers in early fall, said Bryan Hurlburt, the state Department of Agriculture commissioner.
“Farmers have waited far too long for this assistance to hit a bank account,” Hurlburt said.
“We realized that. So, we want to make sure once that application period is open, we can move payments quickly,” he said.
Farmers with at least $500 in documented losses from severe weather in 2023 and 2024 are eligible for the grants.
More than 200 state farmers reported losses estimated at more than $72 million during 2023 and 2024. The causes included late frost and freeze events, historic flooding along the Connecticut River Valley and Western Connecticut and hail, and drought.
