Food & Climate
In his victory speech in the US presidential election on Wednesday, November 6, over his Democratic rival Kamala Harris, Donald Trump mentioned North Carolina twice. In one of them, he referred to the massive devastation caused by Hurricane Helene in the state and how its fields were turned into pools of water. But what he did not mention was the extent of the damage to North Carolina’s soil as a result.
“You know the tragic hurricane Helen, and it hit practically North Carolina, they were really devastated. The water this big water as big as we have seen, hurricane, it built lakes out of nothing, fields became lakes and the danger was unbelievable”, said Trump.
“And the people from North Carolina came to me and said would it be possible at all possible for you to speak to Elon Mask, we need starlink, I said what is starlink? It is a form of communication. So, I called Elon and tell he what he had and it was very dangerous. People would die. They had no communication and all the wire were down. I called Elon you have something called starlink? That is right? Yes, what the hell is it? He said that is a communication system that is very good. I said they really badly need in Norh Carolina. Can you get so fast. He saved a lot of lives”, he added.
North Carolina’s soil
North Carolina’s soil has been toxic after historic Helene flooding.
In the mountainous area near Asheville, affected growers must now replenish water-logged and often tainted land, according a report seen by “Food & Climate” platform.
Hurricane Helene took much from western North Carolina. The stories are harrowing: houses obliterated by landslides, whole families washed away, corpses revealed as the waters receded.
Suddenly, there’s deep climate trauma here. Now side-eye trees, which crushed homes, power lines, cars and people. And the rain, the farmer’s frequent wish, turned rivers maniacal.
It’s not just a question of what Helene, now the nation’s deadliest hurricane since Katrina, took. It’s also a question of what it left behind: tons of soil, sediment and toxic sludge in places where it shouldn’t be – including covering region’s farms, according to “The Guardian” newspaper.
In Marion, North Carolina, Chue and Tou Lee of Lee’s One Fortune Farm are Hmong farmers who grow rice (a rarity in the mountains), a wide assortment of Asian vegetables, and reportedly the best peaches in the region.
When nearby Canoe Creek flooded, it drowned $60,000 of produce, a significant amount for any small farm to lose. Their lower field is now buried under almost 4ft (1.2 meters) of sand and sediment, which they’ll need a machine to move before replanting.
Sixty miles (97km) away in Hendersonville, Delia Jovel Dubón heads Tierra Fértil Coop, a Hispanic worker-owned farming co-operative. This season was to be its last sharing land with Tiny Bridge Farm, where the French Broad River crested 10ft higher than its Hurricane Frances peak in 2004. Twenty feet of water swallowed their fields, destroying all crops and washing away two greenhouses.
Ed Graves, one of Tiny Bridge’s owners, wrote on social media about the added work of looking for resources to help post-storm: “Our food system is such that people who feed their communities have to fundraise after disasters. We keep receipts and apply for all the things.” But, showing the optimism required of farmers, Graves said: “We still have topsoil so we have hope.”
Soil is life
Any farmer who understands sustainable, regenerative or organic agriculture practices will tell you that soil is life. It teems with microbes, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, arthropods, other insects and animals. All that soil life has a deep relationship with the plants via their roots. The plants trade carbs and sugars for essential nutrients and water from the soil’s underground microbiology. This complex, invisible collaboration breaks down when soil is submerged, and life begins to die.
This die-off can lead to an effect known as post-flood syndrome, which describes the stunted growth of crops after soils have been water-logged. Flooding can be especially damaging to beneficial fungi, and that affects how plants can access phosphorus. The mineral is essential to plant growth, and its depletion can linger for seasons.
The Barnardsville farmer Michael Rayburn is also the urban agriculture extension agent for Buncombe County, which experienced the most Helene-related fatalities of any North Carolina county. He lost his ginger crop, which he used for specialty products such as chips and infused sugar. Even so, he felt lucky, with no harm to his family or home and just a few inches of floodwater covering the ginger.
Still, it only takes a few inches to contaminate a crop. “We’re out in the country,” he said. “Every house upstream has a septic system and septic field that will have mixed fecal matter into the floodwaters.”
Microbes that can sicken humans and livestock seep into the soil and the crops themselves. The North Carolina State University Food Safety Repository Lists E coli, listeria, Vibrio, salmonella, hepatitis A and norovirus as increased risks when eating produce from flooded gardens.