The 2026 crop year is shaping up to be a tough one for Mid-Atlantic farmers, prompting more federal disaster designations across the region. Virginia is the latest regional state to receive a Secretarial Disaster Declaration from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) due to an unexpected late April freeze.
According to Maryland Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Steve Connelly, the freeze caused significant damage to fruit trees, wine grapes, and barley crops. Connelly stated, “It really caused a lot of damage in our fruit trees, wine grapes and actually in some barley that was starting to flower, so we’ll see some impacts in some of the small grain crops because of that.”
Original reporting: Baltimore Fishbowl — read the source article.
