In 2024, a catastrophic hailstorm and a hurricane hit my farm six months apart. I received less than a penny to the dollar for losses that wiped out my spring crops and later my summer and fall crops. Not to mention major infrastructure, irrigation, equipment, buildings, thousands of square yards of topsoil, and even the bridge to my home and farm.

More than a year later, I’m still farming. In fact, 2025 was one of the most profitable years my diversified vegetable farm has had.

A few key reasons explain why my farm survived and now thrives:

• Community relationships built before disaster
• Multiple sales channels
• Reliable, long-term staff
• Strategic planning

I believe they may matter more so than iffy government programs or insurance policies that often fall short. Here’s what carried my farm through its hardest year.

1. Community Connections and Acting Fast

When a hurricane caused unprecedented damage in Western North Carolina, NC-based companies like Lowe’s and various local non-profit organizations (both agricultural focused and not) set up relief funds for businesses.

The disaster happened in late September and in many cases the funds were in the hands of business owners by late November or December.

Farmers often don’t apply to general funds for businesses after a disaster because they focus on government programs. But in my case, private and non-profit relief programs were much more effective and critical to my resilience.

Did these local funds fully cover the losses? No, not even close. But they did provide me with enough resources to make recovery possible.

I applied to every single relief fund I could find. Most of these opportunities require that I supply a copy of my federal tax return for the previous year, or two in some cases. Having tax returns and being willing to share profit and loss statements mattered just as much as having my updated crop plan.

All the funds I received were grants, not loans, and I used them immediately to repair infrastructure and fields. This fast cash was critical to being able to keep my staff employed and make a plan to keep farming.

2. Rally The Community

Another critical factor was the commitment neighbors and community members showed after the disaster.

For the first 10 years of farming, I sold only to restaurants, grocery stores, and markets outside of my immediate community. Neighbors knew about the farm, but they had no direct way to access the crops they drove past every day. To change that, I built a farm stand to serve the people who live closest to my fields, and I started donating and selling produce to the local food pantry one mile away.

Three days after a hurricane, my neighbors and farm stand shoppers (many dealing with their own damage) showed up to help.

They brought shovels and helped to clear three feet of mud and ruined supplies from my walk-in coolers, barns, work buildings and the crawlspaces of homes. They removed trees from roads and infrastructure; they hauled debris.

For weeks and weeks volunteers arrived with heavy equipment and energy, sent to me by the local food pantry. This community response was critical to me being able to see a path forward. Because of the farm stand and my farms’ relationship with the food pantry, these folks saw the farm as theirs too, and they didn’t want to lose it.

3. Diversified Sales Saved Us

My farm sells at two robust tailgate markets weekly, to three large restaurants and several food hubs, through a CSA program, and at our farm stand. Additionally, I operate an online store when I have a surplus of food.

This diversification of sales outlets saved us during the disastrous times of COVID when restaurants and tailgate markets shut down overnight. Having various sales outlets also means that I can work to get retail prices for my products and use wholesale as a backup.

Diversifying sales is my responsibility as a farmer in building a thriving business. Increasing awareness and demand for food produced by local farmers is the responsibility of both the farmers and the communities they live in.

When farmers must decide whether to pour money, time, and work into rebuilding after disaster — or walk away — they need confidence their community will buy what they grow. Without this assurance, it is difficult to make the decision to return.

In January 2025, when I was deciding if my farm business could continue, my state of North Carolina still operated a program called HOP (Healthy Opportunities Program) that enabled food pantries and community centers to purchase food from local farms for people in need. Other non-profits like American Red Cross also allocated disaster food relief funds specifically for local farm purchases.

For me, post disaster, the high demand for local food in my area meant that although I lost a lot of land to intense flooding, I could shift my crop plan to reflect my new reality of 30% less field space and still make a profit.

I dropped crops like winter squash that require a lot of acreage, and double-cropped faster growing vegetables that can be densely planted, like lettuce. This worked to keep my farm in business only because there were outlets ready to purchase the abundance of lettuce I grew.

Sadly, the program HOP and the Red Cross program were all cut by August 2025. Already the loss of HOP, which was in existence since 2020, has had a massive impact on local farms who have just recently recovered from disaster.

Any program that increases the demand for local food and trains more people purchasing directly from farmers, whether it’s run by government, farmers, or nonprofits, is critical to making resilient farms. These programs advertise local food, encourage local purchasing, and make local food more accessible to all people.

4. Skilled and Dedicated Farm Staff

Many small-scale farms depend on short-term or seasonal staff for a large percentage of their team. This leaves farms vulnerable to high employee turnover and unstable labor pools.

After 20 years of farming, I believe seasonal labor works for small farms only if at least one, preferably two or more, employees stay year-round or return for multiple seasons.

Multi-year staff enable farmers to better plan their production capabilities and business decisions. The payroll and benefits that full-time staff require can be a barrier for small farms in reaching resilience and stability. Even the initial step to finding and recruiting skilled people who want to farm is incredibly difficult and has mixed results.

Ultimately though, farms who have staff dedicated to the long-term success of the business are much more resilient and able to come back after disaster. Again, having a high demand for local farm food in communities is critical to this step of farms being able to afford year-round staff who are paid a wage that encourages them to stay and make a commitment.

Like growing vegetables, building a resilient farm requires diverse skills and deliberate decisions. Small activities toward resilience, like installing irrigation equipment on movable infrastructure and building tool sheds away from waterways, are easily achievable. Keeping farm records and being up to date on FSA crop filing requirements should happen annually. These are important, but just the beginning.

A truly resilient farm operates with a long-term strategic plan. Three- to five-year goals that diversify sales, strengthen community demand, build relationships, and retain staff help ensure a farm survives for decades.