Immigrant workers, most of them from Mexico, are the backbone of agricultural laborers in eastern North Carolina. These workers have been especially hard hit. Some live in camps without transportation or telephones. And there have been reports that immigrant workers have been turned down for emergency food stamps because they do not have Social Security cards, even though the cards are not required to receive aid. Before the hurricane, farmers were already in bad trouble.
Agricultural products are at very low prices.
And this year the growing season went from six weeks of drought to getting all the rain at one time. Some farmers have some insurance, but in most cases it will cover only a tiny part of their losses from the flood. Disaster relief programs set up by the state and federal governments offer minimal and distorted help. Loans, even at very low interest rates, drive farmers even further into debt, the last thing many farmers want. And the history of discrimination in the disaster relief programs has been well-documented by farmers for years.