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East Tennessee farmers describe devastation from Hurricane Helene; Agriculture Crime Unit coordinated relief
Summary
Farmers and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture’s Ag Crime Unit told the committee about crop losses, silt and rock deposits, airlifts of hay and donated supplies, and an estimated $1.3 billion in storm losses after Hurricane Helene.
Farmers from East Tennessee and representatives of the Tennessee Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Crime Unit told the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee about widespread agricultural damage after Hurricane Helene and the state response to immediate needs.
Corbin Nees, a fifth‑generation farmer from Parisville, said his operation lost nearly 250 acres of row crops and that some fields received about 6 feet of sand. "It knocked almost 6 to probably 6 feet of sand on 1 field," Nees said, describing erosion and buried equipment. He said recovery work was ongoing and that neighbors and local groups had provided assistance.
Greg Whitehead, special agent in charge of the Tennessee Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Crime Unit, described the unit’s emergency response in Northeast Tennessee: deploying personnel to an Elizabethton command center, inventorying incoming donations, conducting ground and aerial surveys with the Tennessee Highway Patrol to locate producers in need, and organizing deliveries and airlifts of hay and livestock supplies with the National Guard and Knox County Sheriff’s Office. "We loaded livestock supplies up on the National Guard helicopters and the Knox County Sheriff's Department's helicopters," Whitehead said, and described organizing donations so that supplies went first to producers with immediate needs.
Whitehead said his unit of 10 officers sent eight agents to the region and helped coordinate distribution of feed, temporary fencing and solar fence chargers for producers without power. He also estimated statewide losses from the storm in East Tennessee at about $1.3 billion.
Committee members thanked the witnesses and asked producers to keep lawmakers informed about ongoing needs; no formal committee action was taken on disaster aid during this hearing.
The testimony highlighted immediate relief activities (donation management, targeted deliveries, airlifts), continuing recovery needs (field restoration, buried equipment), and an estimate of the storm’s agricultural losses provided to the committee.
