Crop Fire Resources

During a Disaster

If you need access to your crops during a disaster, contact Sonoma County Department of Agriculture - NOTE access will not be granted in active fire areas:

Assessing Livestock, Range and Forestry Losses

UCCE Sonoma County Advisors are available to help you assess agricultural losses due to the fires. For more information, call our office 707-565-2621 or email:

Forest, Trees: Steven Swain svswain@ucanr.edu or Mike Jones mjones@ucanr.edu
Livestock, Range, Pasture: Stephanie Larson slarson@ucanr.edu
- Seeding Rangelands After Wildfire

Assistance programs: Grants & Loans

Crop Loss Reporting

Sonoma County Department of Agriculture will be asking property owners report potential damage and/or loss sustained from disasters. This information will be used to compile a damage assessment report for Sonoma County in order to qualify Sonoma County for federal assistance.

Fire Damage Survey this is a fillable pdf, hit submit when completed and it will open an email with the completed survey attached, you can then send it.

Federal Assistance and Crop Insurance

It is imperative that you keep records of everything that pertains to the loss (e.g. photo documentation, receipts, tests, correspondence). See: Documenting Disaster Losses (pdf).
Crops rejected due to smoke taint documentation includes: rejection letter, a copy of test results showing smoke taint, and keep track of what happens to the crop. If vines, see: Should You Drop Unsold Fruit or Leave it on the Vine?

For 2020 agricultural losses due to disaster: call or email USDA Farm Service Agency's Sonoma County office to get on their Disaster list and they will contact you if/when a program is ready. See also: Grants & Loans for Disasters.

If you have crop insurance, contact your adjuster right away.

If you do not have crop insurance, review USDA’s Risk Management (crop insurance) programs that could apply to your operation. (It won’t help now). You can find an agent here (input your address and click on search).

Viticulture

October, 2017. Photo by Mary Halasz

Grapevines are very resilient and do not burn easily. In many cases the vineyards are acting like fire breaks and are likely playing a role in the fact that only a limited amount of wineries have been destroyed or significantly damaged in the fires surrounding them. We expect that the grapevines will recover fully if they did not actually burn, although yield may be impacted.

Should You Drop Unsold Fruit or Leave it on the Vine? By Rhonda Smith, Viticulture Advisor Emeritus, 10/2019 (updated 9/2020).
Response to wildfire impact on CA wine industry and smoke taint UCD Vit & Enology Dept, 10/2017
Smoke and Grape – the Smoke Taint Repercussions, Viticulture Blog, Fruition Sciences, 10/2017

Soil Testing

Some technical guidance tip sheets and power points that may be helpful can be found here:

Contaminants in Soils, Data Collection-Interpreting Test results and Minimizing Exposure by Cornell University
Soils in Urban Agriculture: Testing, Remediation and Best Management Practices peer-reviewed article
Testing Laboratories in Northern California