Farmers Needed for Assist to Storm Stricken Farmers

Assistance in many forms and from many individuals and organizations has been directed to southern Indiana in the last week in the aftermath of those devastating storms. You can now add to the list a group of farmers helping other farmers scheduled for Friday and Saturday, March 16 and 17, primarily in the Marysville area in Clark County.

Kelly Crabtree of Novozymes BioAg has been in the devastated fields and is organizing the effort.

“I know our farmers are hard workers. I know that they have time on their hands and I know they have a lot of equipment, and we’re looking people who have 4 wheelers, trailers, cutting equipment to cut large sheets of metal out of trees, lifting equipment, chains saws and chains, and whatever else they can bring to help in this effort.”

She added, “There was so much debris I didn’t walk that far out into the fields, but that’s why we’re asking for the people with the 4 wheelers and the Gators and the trailers, to be able to go out to some of those areas that you can’t get to.”

Crabtree is the contact for farmers who can assist and farmers who need help.

“Our primary objective is to clean up the rural communities, but we also want to make sure that affected farmers’ fields are cleaned up and ready to go at planting time. So we want to hear from any farmers who were affected or whose equipment was lost or damaged in the tornado. We want to make sure they have the means necessary to get their fields planted.”

If she gets the 50 to 100 volunteers she hopes for, Crabtree thinks they can make a dent, but there will still be much more left to do.

“I have seen home after home after home destroyed. You can look out and there’s debris for miles and miles, as far as you can see. It is a disaster. I saw a semi truck wrapped around a tree. I saw a house that’s roof has ended up on the foundation. There are no more walls left. It’s unfortunately just very devastating destruction. To be honest I think they’re going to be working on this project for months and months, but anything that we can do I know will help.”

Farmers and agribusinesses are asked to contact her by 5 pm Wednesday, March 14th. The email address is KYCE@novozymes.com, or call (317) 508-0593. Volunteers must be at least 18 years of age.

Among the other assistance Dow AgroSciences, through The Dow Chemical Company Foundation, has donated $75,000 to the American Red Cross for relief efforts and will match 100 percent of employee contributions up to $10,000. Governor Mitch Daniels has asked the federal government to declare a major disaster for the counties of Clark, Jefferson, Ripley, Scott, Warrick and Washington.[audio:https://www.hoosieragtoday.com//wp-content/uploads//2012/03/Farmer-to-Farmer-disaster-assistance.mp3|titles=Farmer to Farmer disaster assistance]

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