Flooded Northeast Kingdom farmers try to salvage another season

WATERFORD, Vt. (WCAX) – Vermont’s Open Farm Week is celebrating its 10th year, but after severe flooding in the Northeast Kindgom over the past month, some farmers are not able to take part.

“If every other storm, or every storm we get is three, four inches at a time, then I’m not sure what we are going to do,” said Shawn Gingue with the Gingue Family Farm in Waterford.

He says they are still picking up the pieces following last month’s flooding. The farm lost some of its sweet corn, 25 chickens, their soybean crop, among other damage. “The biggest thing we found — underneath Interstate 93 was a complete river. The culvert was plugged at the top and then all that water came rushing down from underneath the underpass. Our whole day was just assessing damage and kind of scratching our heads,” Gingue said.

Open Farm Week comes as farmers are looking for community support after losing an estimated $4 from the flooding, according to Vermont Agriculture Secretary Anson Tebbetts. “We are looking at long-term strategies. We do have some of our farmers thinking about — can I plant there again? Because they have been flooded out twice, three times. One particular farmer told me it’s been five events he has… as far as dealing with the floods,” he said.

Paul Gingue, who has been working the Waterford farm since he was a child, says he hasn’t seen storms like this since the ‘70s.

“You can tell that there’s gotta be something to do with climate change. That I did not believe in at all when they first started talking about it. I worry about what kind of effect it’s going to have on my son and daughter-in-law that are planning on taking it over,” he said.

The family says the best thing for them to do to recover is to salvage what they have and start planting again next spring. They do say their farm stand is open for Open Farm Week.

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