Sherrill requests federal disaster designation after $300M freeze losses; the agency that must process the request has shed 15,000+ employees.

TRENTON, N.J. — Governor Mikie Sherrill declared a statewide agricultural emergency on May 20, after New Jersey farmers reported catastrophic freeze damage from an April cold snap that hit during critical blossom stages. The declaration triggers state relief mechanisms and underpins a formal request to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins for a Secretarial Disaster Designation. The request has drawn no public federal response as of May 24, according to records reviewed by NJBallot.

The frost damage began April 19 and ran through April 22, when temperatures plunged into the 20s across the state. The freeze followed a prolonged warm spell that pushed temperatures above 90 degrees, forcing fruit trees into early flowering and leaving blossoms and newly forming fruit exposed. Sherrill's executive order, EO No. 18, cites "severe injury" to tree fruit and berry crops at what the state calls a "critical developmental stage."

Sherrill's executive order directs the state Department of Agriculture to coordinate with federal and county partners and opens state relief channels. The governor has formally requested that Rollins issue a Secretarial Disaster Designation, which would unlock federal emergency loans, cost-share assistance and supplemental payments for affected growers.

The last comparable New Jersey agricultural disaster was a multi-event designation under then-Governor Chris Christie in 2013. In that case it took roughly two and a half months from the final qualifying event to then-Secretary Tom Vilsack's approval. Federal approval historically takes weeks to months. 

But the current request unfolds inside an agency that has hemorrhaged staff through a deferred resignation program, with more than 15,000 employees gone and field offices operating at reduced capacity, according to Senate oversight documents filed by the USDA in September 2025.

The New Jersey Department of Agriculture compiled loss assessments in coordination with Farm Service Agency County Committees. The assessments found damage exceeding the 30 percent production loss threshold that triggers federal disaster aid. Some growers reported losses approaching or exceeding 90 percent. The governor's office estimates losses at more than $300 million. NJBallot could not locate a crop-specific breakdown.

Jim Giamarese, a 70-year-old apple grower in East Brunswick, told the New Jersey Monitor he lost 90 percent of his apple crop and 40 percent of his strawberries. He has already spent roughly $5,000 per acre on over-the-winter labor and says he is now pressing the Legislature for a supplemental appropriation, working alongside Rutgers Cooperative Extension and the New Jersey Farm Bureau.

John Melick, a 10th-generation farmer in Oldwick, Hunterdon County, reported 90 percent peach loss and told the Monitor this is "the biggest claim we've ever submitted." Kurt Alstede, who runs a 600-acre operation in Chester, said his federal crop insurance caps out at $325,000 against what he described as "millions and millions" in production value. Tannwen Mount at Terhune Orchards in Mercer County lost 100 percent of her peach, Asian pear and cherry crops and is pivoting to vegetables to survive the season.

John Hurff at Schober's Orchards in Monroeville said drought conditions before the freeze compounded the damage, hitting peach and apple trees already stressed by dry soil. The NJ Department of Environmental Protection first declared the drought warning last December, and reaffirmed it on May 1.

The federal crop insurance apparatus activated streamlined procedures for New Jersey on May 8, before the governor's May 20 declaration. The USDA Risk Management Agency issued emergency procedures (MGR-26-006) authorizing expedited loss adjustment for perennial crops across 13 states, including New Jersey. The procedures waive frost protection equipment penalties for blueberries and authorize an immature peach appraisal deviation for the 2026 crop year.

But the agency that issued those procedures is the same agency that has lost field capacity. The USDA told Senate investigators in September 2025 that the Natural Resources Conservation Service is approving fewer Environmental Quality Incentives Program applications because of diminished staff. USDA told Senate investigators that Rollins said on Fox News the reorganization is "intended to further deplete USDA staff." 

Rollins announced $21 billion in expedited disaster aid on May 7, 2025, for prior drought, wildfire and livestock losses. That aid does not cover the April 2026 freeze. NJBallot found no federal acknowledgment of Sherrill's May 20 request as of May 24.

Federal pressure came from U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Andy Kim, who sent a joint letter to Rollins on May 20, the same day as Sherrill's declaration. Booker and Kim wrote that the freeze severity is "largely unprecedented" and that winegrowers face "additional year of crop loss from vine damage" beyond the immediate fruit destruction.

State Senator Nilsa Cruz-Perez (D-5th), who chairs the Senate Economic Growth Committee, and Assemblywoman Andrea Katz (D-8th), who chairs the Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, both issued statements supporting relief. Cruz-Perez cited "increasing financial pressures from inflation and rising fuel and operating costs." Katz called agriculture "one of our most important economic drivers."

Two days before Sherrill acted, the Assembly introduced A5102, a bill that would permanently authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to declare agricultural emergencies for up to six months and require the department to study funding sources for farmers during disasters. The bill, referred to the Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, sits with no hearing scheduled for May or June.

New Jersey's agricultural sector employs more than 25,000 people and generates over $1.5 billion in wholesale value annually, according to state figures and USDA data. Blueberries alone accounted for $84.9 million in production value across 10,700 acres in 2025, per the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. The April freeze hit the sector at roughly 20 percent of its annual wholesale value in a single week.

For now, New Jersey's farmers await federal approval of the funding they need to recover from this year's frost. That timing depends on how quickly the USDA, with its reduced field staff, can work.

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Sources

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· USDA Risk Management Agency, "Manager's Bulletin: MGR-26-006 — Emergency Procedures for Crops Damaged by Freeze in April 2026" (May 8, 2026).

· USDA Farm Service Agency, "USDA Announces New Jersey State Committee Appointments" (February 13, 2026).

· USDA Farm Service Agency, "FSA County Committee Election Notice — New Jersey" (January 8, 2026).

· USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, "New Jersey Annual Agricultural Statistics, 2025" (February 27, 2026).

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