William DellaCamera, who owns Cecarelli’s Harrison Hill Farm in Northford, never wanted to spend nearly two weeks on the road rallying people to fight for better state and federal support for farmers. He would much rather be on his farm, growing fresh produce such as tomatoes and corn and providing for those in his community and beyond.

Yet there DellaCamera was on Wednesday, September 11, pulling into Castle Hill Farm in his tractor with a large trailer attached to it. He wanted to speak with the farm’s owners Diana and Steve Paproski about their experience as farmers and see if they felt just as frustrated from the lack of support.

“I’ve been to 50 farms in the past week, and every one of us has the same sentiment, the same problem, towards the United States Department of Agriculture and the Connecticut Department of Agriculture,” DellaCamera told The Newtown Bee during his stop at Castle Hill Farm.

DellaCamera’s journey was prompted by a hail storm that struck his farm on the afternoon of Monday, August 26. After 13 minutes of sustained golf ball-sized hail, the storm destroyed all 125 acres of what Cecarelli’s Harrison Hill Farm grows. DellaCamera said that everything was “completely, totally destroyed” and that there is nothing left.

“13 minutes. That’s all it took. It damaged everything in the first five, but the next eight minutes were just the finishing touches,” DellaCamera explained. “I have 18,000 tomato stakes, so that’s probably around 55,000 tomatoes then … So really, in essence, I lose everything I own that one afternoon.”

The hailstorm is only one of many natural disaster events that have impacted Connecticut farms in the past several years. In July of last year, heavy rainfall caused severe flooding along the Connecticut River that devastated nearby farms. Then in August of this year, a severe storm brought record breaking rainfall to the western Connecticut region and wrecked even more farms, as well as homes, roads, businesses, and more.

Diana says that Castle Hill Farm “lost its entire pumpkin patch and part of its maze” from the recent August storm, and that they struggle to qualify for certain grants provided to farmers in the state. Even when farmers like Diana or DellaCamera do qualify for relief, they say it is often a drop in the bucket compared to the overwhelming cost of natural disaster events.

“I forewarned everybody because I have friends that were in the Connecticut River Valley when they got destroyed last year,” DellaCamera said. “I told all my friends, ‘there will be a day where my farm gets destroyed and that will be the worst day of my life, but that will trigger me to do what I’m doing today, because I am going to fight every step of the way to get what we deserve.’”

Federal insurance avenues DellaCamera has, specifically Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) and Risk Management Agency (RMA), he says do not work properly. He has not had much luck through privatized insurance either, as he said they might send their adjuster to assess the damage right away, but that he has not heard anything back from them. DellaCamera says that he, along with so many other farmers in similar situations, are left with daunting bills and struggling to pay their workers.

“So we as farmers try to explain to people that have other jobs, whatever it might be, that imagine you work for 12 months and all of a sudden you get no paycheck for an entire year. That’s what it’s like,” Diana said.

All of this led DellaCamera to set off with his tractor and trailer on Thursday, September 5. He traveled from farm to farm across Connecticut, touching base with farmers and garnering support for reforms to federal crop insurance programs and immediate assistance from the state after natural disasters.

DellaCamera then drove his tractor all the way up to the state capital on Friday, September 13, to hold a press conference spotlighting these goals, as well as his efforts to petition the federal government and state officials.

Along both sides of his trailer were giant white boards where farmers and other people could write DellaCamera words of support and encouragement. By the time DellaCamera arrived at Castle Hill Farm, there were already dozens of messages.

He said he is calling on Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, Congresswoman Jahana Hayes, Governor Ned Lamont, and Connecticut Commissioner of Agriculture Brian Hurlburt to “pull up their bootstraps” and work with farmers to provide the support that they need.

“I’m asking them to take their suits off. We don’t want to look at your starch press suits no more. We’re sick of it. Pull up your bootstraps and go to work. Farmers help feed this country. We’re the backbone of America, we’re the backbone of Connecticut, and we need help,” DellaCamera said.

After stopping at the state capital, where his press conference was attended by around 60 people, DellaCamera set his sights on driving to Washington, D.C., for Tuesday, September 17, to continue spotlighting the needs of farmers. DellaCamera saw Blumenthal while at the state capital, and said that Blumenthal plans to meet him in D.C.

Current Issues With Farming

One of the major problems with farms across Connecticut right now, Diana says, is the lack of adjusters to assist farmers after natural disaster events. DellaCamera himself initially had issues getting an adjuster out to the farm to assess the destroyed crops, determine and verify the cause and time of loss, and so on.

“Right now, there are just not enough adjusters to come out in a timely fashion to look at situations like this. And then you can’t even pick a secondary crop, so you lose everything,” Diana explained. “If people have an adjuster, they could maybe salvage a secondary crop, but when an adjuster comes 10 days later, then it’s all rotted.”

Farmers are left to fill out information about losses in the meantime according to DellaCamera, which puts extra stress on them since they are trying to fix the farm and have little time as is.

It is issues like these, alongside already existing challenges such as disease, weather, and financial difficulties, that can make it increasingly difficult to get people to stay in the industry. According to a USDA Census report released this February, Connecticut lost a total of 463 farms between 2017 to 2022, with the number declining to 5,058 from 5,521.

One of the things that DellaCamera hopes is that the state will make a program that can help farmers in the time of a disaster.

“I’m not asking them to make this program to insure a farm year after year; I’m talking after a disaster. If the town or the state declares that area a natural disaster, that triggers whatever program you make for the farmer to get paid,” DellaCamera said.

He also said that he hopes they can take and somehow adjust the way unemployment works so in the time of crisis, farmers could put their workers on unemployment and not have to worry about finding employment when they finally straighten out their situation.

“In the time of crisis, first off, they may not have worked enough weeks to even be eligible for it, but then there’s always the fact that the farm is going to have to pay a ridiculous percentage next year to recoup that money. Why are we penalizing someone in a time of natural disaster?” DellaCamera said. “We don’t want to let our workers go. I have my workers doing stuff right now, I owe it to them … I’m trying to find things for them to do, and it’s going to cost me a lot of money that I have no way to regain.”

DellaCamera says that he is ultimately doing this “to change agriculture in Connecticut” because it is getting harder for farmers, and will only continue getting harder unless something changes.

For more information on Cecarelli’s Harrison Hill Farm, visit its Facebook page (Cecarellis Harrison Hill Farm).

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.