Chris Lyons: When disaster hits, Wilton Simpson’s recovery program steps up

Aerial shot captures the devastating impact of a hurricane on a small town, showcasing flooded streets and submerged homes after the storm.

When disaster hits, I’m grateful for Commissioner Wilton Simpson’s natural disaster recovery loan program. With quick and efficient access to capital, farmers in North Florida have started repairing the significant damage caused by Hurricane Helene.

Florida’s farmers play an important role in meeting the growing demands of the world’s population. Americans rely on us to produce a safe and wholesome food supply, and our business partners count on us to stock the shelves for their customers. My own daughters often ask me who would feed the world if we didn’t — the weight of that responsibility weighs heavy on families who farm.

My dad passed away when I was just eight years old. My mom, my brother Dale and I got to work. The commodities we handled changed with the economy: first hay, then peanuts and corn, then cattle and poultry. Today, we produce a mix of them all. We are adaptive and adjust to the world around us to ensure we can continue to provide for our family and community.

But it’s difficult to adapt and adjust when a massive hurricane comes your way. Instead, we harden and hunker down.

Our number one responsibility is to our family. I want to ensure my wife, quadriplegic brother Dale and my four daughters are safe. But we also have to take care of our livestock. We have upwards of 650,000 chickens and 500 mama cows on our land at any one time – there is just no way I can imagine leaving them all behind.

In August 2023, Hurricane Idalia came to our land as a powerful category-four storm and took quite a toll on our property. The storm destroyed about five miles of our fenced land and knocked down countless trees. It hurt our crops, too. We spent months recovering, rebuilding, and burning load after a load of debris. We spent most of October and November trying to move the smaller downed trees, and this Spring, we addressed the larger tasks.

In May, things started to feel normal again – well, as normal as life looks these days. Then came hurricane season. Hurricane Debbie graciously spared us, but my gosh, Hurricane Helene was not so kind.

Our farm was just east of the eye of the storm. Sitting inside our home, we could hear sheets of metal ripping apart nearby. When Helene passed, we surveyed the damage. All three of our hay barns had collapsed. The roof and rafters were laid out in the field. Extensions to our chicken houses had ripped off and were blown away.

Seeing our life’s work laid out in pieces in front of us like that was devastating. It transported me back to when we were forced to manage the farm for the first time after my father died. It’s difficult to know where to begin.

That’s when friends, neighbors, community leaders and resources arrived to help.

We are grateful for the friends from across the industry who showed up to help rebuild. The Farm Bureau donated fence posts and barbed wire. The Cattlemen supported us with physical labor, putting up the fence in areas we couldn’t risk livestock getting out. Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture Simpson launched programs to help us bridge the gap.

The Florida Department of Agriculture’s natural disaster recovery loans offer farmers with losses access to capital at 0% interest for 10 years. In contrast to federal programs riddled with bureaucracy and red tape and take weeks or months to arrive, these loans provide immediate relief in days and the flexibility to pay back without penalty.

Florida TaxWatch even championed the program for its productivity and efficiency.

Our farm is just one of the many farms throughout our region that suffered severe damage from Hurricane Helene. Given Lafayette County is the second highest producer in the state for poultry and livestock, the losses could have a real impact on our domestic food supply. But with support from our industry friends and our state leaders, we will come back stronger and continue to produce the fresh and wholesome foods for which American families depend on us.

So, from all of us, thank you, Commissioner Simpson.

___

Chris Lyons owns Lyons Hay Farm and Lyons Poultry Farm. He is a third-generation farmer and third-generation Floridian living in Mayo.