Senator Clinton Pledges Help for Damaged Crops

By Bud Lowell

Newark, Wayne County – New York Senator Hilary Clinton toured the Finger Lakes region today, where thousands of acres of fruit trees likely won't produce much of a harvest because of a devastating hail storm last month.

The storms swept across farms from the Lake Ontario fruit belt to the Hudson Valley.

Gary Wells owns the Maple Ridge Fruit Farms in Newark and the Apple Shed farm market that hosted a meeting between Senator Clinton and the growers. Wells says he won't be able to sell his crop for eating apples, which means a substantial loss: 50 dollars for a field-sized crate of apples instead of up to 600 depending on the variety.

Mike Beckens owns GMB Farms in Sodus. He says he's been farming since 1970 but never experienced anything like the silver-dollar sized hail that hit his orchards June 16th. Beckens says he would have gotten 20 cents a pound for fresh fruit apples -- but his damaged crops that are spotted and cut by hail will be lucky to bring seven cents a pound for apple juice.

Senator Clinton said she and the rest of New York's Congressional delegation are pushing to get 23 counties declared disaster areas because of the storms. She also said the new farm bill that recently passed Congress sets up a disaster fund that will make it faster and easier to reimburse farmers for devastated crops. And she says there's at least a strong market for the fruit local growers do manage to market -- because of the push for locally grown crops.