by Kristen Wile

As images of the devastation in Western Carolina began to spread across social media, one image in particular was shared by restaurants and chefs in Charlotte: that of Bluebird Farm’s fields completely submerged by strong currents.

Produce from the farm, located outside of Morganton, can often be found on menus across Charlotte, including L’Ostrica, Chef Alyssa’s Kitchen, Aria, 300 East, Chapter 6, Stoke, and Mimosa Grill. Now, owners Marie Williamson and William Lyons are dealing a near complete loss of their vegetables, structural damage, and more. Bluebird is one of several Western North Carolina farms that works with Freshlist to distribute their produce to local restaurants.

“We’ve heard from everybody — everybody’s accounted for, but not everybody still has reliable communication or power,” says Erin Bradley, Freshlist Director Of Business Development. “That’s obviously the biggest barrier right now.”

Like Bluebird, many farms in the area have lost their crops. There has also been a significant amount of structural damage, and even loss of animals. Much of the state’s apple crop comes from Western North Carolina, and damage to those trees not only harms this year’s crop, but means they’ll need to be replanted. It will take years before those trees are producing fruit at the level of the mature trees knocked down in the storm.

“A lot of the trees are shot, which is a problem not only immediately for his year, this year’s crop being destroyed, but if you’ve got fruit trees, stone fruit trees, that’s years worth of income that you now have to start back over on,” Bradley says.

Farms will also require a lot of work to get their soil back to growing conditions. With the floods bringing debris along with them, the soil balance could have changed drastically in lands that were flooded. That’s a process that is time consuming and expensive, according to Bradley, and can’t begin right away as the soil needs time to settle ahead of any testing.

“You now have to go back and rebuild potentially from worse than what it was when you purchased it,” she says. “You have to rebuild that soil back up and that’s a years-long process depending on what you have to put into it. And it can be an incredibly expensive process.”

However, even the farms that were physically undamaged will see a significant business impact, as many have lost the ability to sell their produce as a result of power outages, impassable roads, and other damage. Many of the farmers markets in the area are closed as communities come together to repair and rebuild.

“You’re looking at the big problem of farms that were destroyed, whether infrastructure was destroyed or their crops were destroyed,” Bradley says. “Then you also have farms that might be physically fine but are out of a market channel.”

Some farms are driving product down to Freshlist’s headquarters in Charlotte to sell their products, as they know Charlotte is accessible. These farmers will need support in the months and years to come, Bradley says.

Carolina Farm Trust, a local nonprofit that supports small agriculture, is offering its walk-in cooler space to farmers who don’t have power, as well as open to requests for food support via its food truck.

“Carolina Farm Trust is assessing the situation and will be deploying its resources to those impacted in the region and working with officials on the ground to support existing efforts,” CFT founder Zack Wyatt says. According Wyatt, it has been difficult to get a full picture of the damage to farms, as the water hasn’t yet fully receded. However, the nonprofit is considering growing seedlings of fall crops that can be transplanted to farmers when their land is ready for them.

Bluebird has started a GoFundMe to raise money for replanting and rebuilding, and hopes to be at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market this weekend. Freshlist is collecting donations on Wednesdays that Bluebird’s owners will take back to their hometown. If you’d like to donate to support these small farmers, one organization you can donate to is the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project, or ASAP. The Piedmont Culinary Guild is also fundraising for cash grants for small farms. Meanwhile, restaurants around the city are also working to fundraise and gather donations for those in need.