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

Gov. Wes Moore (D) petitioned the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wednesday for a disaster declaration for Maryland farmers after an early-season freeze in April caused “devastating” crop losses or orchards and vineyards in some counties.

In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Moore said that sudden freeze and frost had led to historic crop losses at time some orchards and vineyards in the state.

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 Maryland 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.

Moore’s letter comes a week after the Maryland Farm Bureau wrote to Rollins seeking a disaster declaration, saying it 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.

It said the freeze came after “an unseasonably warm spring that had already pushed specialty crops into advanced growing stages,” making them particularly vulnerable to the cold. “Our farmers are worried, and for many, this frost represents the loss of an entire year of income in a single night,” the letter said.

One longtime vintner told the wineries association that he had not seen anything like the freeze in 60 years in the business. Robert Butz, of Windridge Vineyard in Darnestown, said on Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich’s weekly meeting with reporters shortly after the freeze that,  “There’s no way to sugarcoat it, on the grape side of our business anyway, pretty much 100% of any living tissue was frosted off on that morning of the 21st.”

Despite the loss of income, the state’s farmers still face the costs of maintaining their orchards and vineyards for another year, which will cost an estimated $4.2 million for the state’s grape crop alone, Moore said in his letter.

“Maryland’s farmers are resilient, but the scale of this climate event exceeds local and state recovery capacities,” Moore siad. “As highlighted by recent Maryland Farm Bureau surveys, our agricultural community remains vulnerable to extreme weather volatility and requires enhanced financial accessibility to maintain long-term viability.”

A federal disaster declaration would unlock the door to “the federal financial assistance and emergency loans these farmers desperately need to pivot their operations and survive until the next growing season,” Maryland Farm Bureau President James Raley said in the bureau’s letter.