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Today, California Representatives Salud Carbajal (CA-24), Julia Brownley (CA-26), Jim Costa (CA-21), Zoe Lofgren (CA-18), and Jimmy Panetta (CA-19) are calling on the White House to include disaster relief funds for California farmers and growers in their forthcoming supplemental request for domestic priorities.

The lawmakers represent a region of California that was battered by storms and flooding in the early months of 2023, causing an estimated $1.4 billion in damages to the state’s agricultural operations.

“It is imperative the federal government provide much-needed aid to the agricultural community to allow for a full and timely recovery. Without this desperately needed assistance, farmers will not be able to produce the country’s fruits and vegetables and the effects will be felt nationwide,” the lawmakers wrote in their request to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shalanda Young. “Earlier this year…Several weeks of atmospheric storms brought intense rain and catastrophic flooding….As a result, many growers did not have their fields ready to go for the traditional planting season and needed to push their timeline. Fields were also so saturated with water that they were not dry enough to plant at all this year, reducing the number of acres planted. Furthermore, many crops experienced damage earlier in the year but are just now seeing such damage physically manifest due to their inherent lengthier growing seasons and late harvest. This combination and timing of damage has made recovery much more difficult.”

The request is the latest step taken by the lawmakers, who have been pushing Congressional leaders to pass a relief package for agriculture damage since the spring.

California lawmakers formally wrote to the leaders of the House Appropriations Committee in April requesting funds to help offset damage to California agricultural operations. Agriculture is the number one industry in California, with nearly 70,000 farms operated on 24.3 million acres.

The full text of the letter to OMB Director Young can be found here and below:

Director Young,

As you work to put together a domestic supplemental request, we ask that you consider including an agriculture disaster relief package for our US agriculture farmers and ranchers, including California growers.

Earlier this year, throughout the country climate disaster impacted thousands of farms and ranches. Several weeks of atmospheric storms brought intense rain and catastrophic flooding. Fields were flooded, lost precious topsoil, covered in debris, or entirely washed away.

As a result, many growers did not have their fields ready to go for the traditional planting season and needed to push their timeline. Fields were also so saturated with water that they were not dry enough to plant at all this year, reducing the number of acres planted.

This combination of damage has made recovery much more difficult. This has led the agricultural industry to currently estimate $1.4 billion dollars in damages and anticipates this number will increase as they continue to assess the latest storms from August and September.

We therefore request a disaster recovery package to continue the rebuilding and recovery process. It is imperative the federal government provide much-needed aid to the agricultural community to allow for a full and timely recovery. Without this desperately needed assistance, farmers will not be able to produce the country’s fruits and vegetables and the effects will be felt nationwide.

Thank you for your consideration of this request. We look forward to working with you on this critical issue.