Moore orders relief, assistance for farmers hit by April freeze

While they wait for a reply to their request for federal aid, state officials Friday unveiled their own campaign to assist Maryland farmers hit by a “devastating” April freeze that damaged crops and wiped out some farms completely.

Gov. Wes Moore (D) directed the Maryland Department of Agriculture to waive a requirement that winemakers in the state own or have under contract at least 20 acres of grapes, or that at least 51% of the ingredients in their wine come from Maryland.

He also directed the department to create task forces on irrigation, on boosting existing risk management programs and to “enhance opportunities” for farmers and watermen affected by natural disasters to access programs of the Maryland Agriculture and Resource-Based Industry Development Corp.

Finally, the Agriculture Department is to encourage the purchase of local farm products by food banks, consumers and others; the Department of the Environment is to prioritize “water appropriation permits” for agriculture; and the Governor’s Intergovernmental Commission on Agriculture is to assess how state and local agencies “can better support affected agricultural sectors.

State seeks federal aid for farmers for ‘catastrophic damage’ to crops in April freeze

“Maryland relies on our agricultural industry for economic prosperity, culture and food security,” Moore said in a statement accompanying the directive. “The devastating damage caused by the severe statewide freeze requires a unified and coordinated response to restabilize our farming community.”

The directive comes in response to a severe freeze on April 21 that damaged orchards and vineyards, leading to “historic losses in fruit and grape yields.” The freeze followed a warm spring that made plants particularly vulnerable, causing damage that will take multiple years to recover from.

“This freeze not only devastated harvestable crops, but producers are still facing millions of dollars in expenses to maintain their land for future growing seasons without the income they would normally generate from their harvest,” Maryland Agriculture Secretary Kevin Atticks said in the statement from the governor’s office.

The latest directive comes just days after Moore wrote to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins asking for a disaster declaration that would open the door to emergency loans and supplemental relief for farmers from the federal government if approved.

The Maryland Farm Bureau also wrote Rollins to ask for a disaster declaration, noting that a survey of its members found that farmers expected production losses of just over two-thirds of the harvest for some crops, with farms in the hardest-hit counties reporting near total losses.

Officials with the Maryland Wineries Association also reported heavy losses, with one longtime vintner saying he had not seen anything like it in 60 years in the business.

“The impact from this loss to our sector is generational in scale, and we appreciate the state’s responsiveness and support,” said Janna Howley, executive director of the Maryland Wineries Association.

The wineries association reported a total loss over 36% of the state’s grape acreage, leading to an estimated $24.4 million deficit in projected wine sales for the 2026 vintage. Preliminary reports from the Maryland Farm Service Agency indicated the loss of up to 94% of the apple crop, 99% of the peach crop and 98% of the barley crop, Moore said.

The farm bureau found an “average estimated loss of 67.5 percent across surveyed specialty crops, with over 320 acres impacted in counties including Montgomery, Frederick, Carroll, Baltimore, Howard, Anne Arundel, Harford, Washington, Prince George’s, and Calvert.” Some orchards and vineyards were reporting a near-total loss of their crops for 2026, the farm bureau said.