The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) is seeking information about weather-related losses in 2023 and 2024 from farmers across the state as it prepares to report damages to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which will split up $220 million in relief funding among eight states.

MDAR has issued a survey, which has a deadline of Jan. 17, requesting farmers to share their production losses, infrastructure damage, increased production costs and soil contamination, among other long-term losses, which will help the agency develop a funding request for its federal counterpart.

The money comes from the government funding bill passed in late December, which directs the USDA to provide assistance in the form of block grants for the six New England states, as well as Alaska and Hawaii.

“The more we hear from farmers through the survey, the more effective the program will be, so we urge farmers to respond to the survey by Jan. 17,” MDAR Deputy Commissioner Winton Pitcoff said in an email. “We very much appreciate the federal resources and the support of our congressional delegation, particularly Congressman [Jim] McGovern, for including them in the bill.”

MDAR encourages all farmers who suffered losses over the last two years to fill out the survey, even if they have received grants, loans or insurance payments related to those losses. A response to the survey doesn’t guarantee access to or eligibility for funding, as those parameters are being refined by the USDA and state farming agencies.

Anonymous responses are welcome, but respondents have the option of including email addresses to ensure “timely notification of the launch of the program,” according to a MDAR newsletter.

“MDAR will develop a process for farmers to apply for funding, along with criteria to ensure that funds are directed to where they are most needed,” Pitcoff said. “We do anticipate that requests will exceed available resources.”

The funding will likely be welcome news for farmers in the Pioneer Valley, who were relentlessly battered by Mother Nature in 2023. The first wave of catastrophic weather came in the form of frost that devastated peaches and other fruits.

In July 2023, the rain came. Over and over again, rain flooded the Pioneer Valley, wiping out fields, raising the potential for disease and decreasing the quality of the crops that did survive.

“The flooding that hit on July 10 [2023], it was, in my lifetime, one of the most devastating events to occur and to hit the Massachusetts agricultural sector, as well as our neighbors in Vermont and Connecticut,” MDAR Commissioner Ashley Randle said in a July 2024 interview. “It really brought to light how fragile our local food system is and the impacts of climate change.”

This past year turned out much better for the valley’s agricultural community, although farmers did have to work through a drought that spread over Massachusetts late in the summer.

MDAR’s survey can be accessed at bit.ly/3DMMWe2.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.