LIMESTONE, Tenn. – When Hurricane Helene blew through East Tennessee in September 2024, it was front-page news, but it fell out of the news cycle shortly after. However, farmers are still struggling to get their land in production. They had to clear out tons of sediment, and clear downed trees. Riverbanks were gone. There is a danger of pollutants.

Leaders from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) recently toured the area to witness the cleanup efforts and identify the remaining needs. TDA has petitioned USDA’s Farm Service Agency for a block grant to cover losses caused by the storm. Hurricane Helene’s economic impact on Tennessee farmers and forestland owners is now estimated at $547 million to $1.8 billion.

University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (UTIA) researchers, specialists, Extension agents, and students have worked alongside farmers as they rebuild. This hands-on, science-driven approach is set to bring production back to farmland while strengthening it against future floods.

“We had a lot of water that came through the Carolinas into Tennessee and with that, everything that comes with the water, other soils that were coming from other properties,” said Dr. Bruno Pedreira, UTIA forage specialist. “We had thousands of acres damaged with sediments that we had to learn how to deal with. The first big challenge for farmers was to clean the area, to get rid of the trees and clear the sediment.”

The hardest part was that the experts didn’t know how to answer and resolve all the issues, said Dr. Emine Fidan, with UTIA’s Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science. They have not faced a disaster like this before and have not seen how a hurricane can impact an area. They don’t have prior experience in dealing with this type of catastrophe.

“A lot of the croplands here in East Tennessee that were impacted from Helene had before been growing crops, or hay, grasses, and different types of agricultural fields,” Fidan said. “But after Helene, we had so much sand and silt deposits that the crops fields were completely covered in some areas by 6 feet of just sand. So, managing that quantity of sand and sediment was the first challenge because we wanted to restore the cropland.”

The sediment had completely encompassed the fields and changed the entire landscape, Fidan said. Rivers were created in croplands and other areas where there had not been a river before. Riverbanks were destroyed. There were no trees to hold them in place.

Herbicide residue is one of the biggest challenges right now, Pedreira said. Farmers had used herbicides in pastures and those herbicides ended up in pumpkin fields. Now the pumpkins won’t grow. Farmers have been replanting hay and it is short and turns yellow.

“So, we know that there is something in the soil that is not OK to grow a crop,” Pedreira said. “In some fields, it is 5 percent of the field, in some it is about half of the field. Everything is a learning process as we go. The hardest part for us as researchers is that we do not have all the answers yet.”

Fidan said, “The concerns are shifting now to the contaminants. The water flooded some septic tanks and it flooded some graveyards. The water moved potential contaminants from septic tanks, and graveyards, and is leaving some of those contaminants behind on cropland.”

The researchers are concerned about the growth of crops in those fields but also about the safety of tomatoes and lettuces that are harvested from those fields. They are testing the soil, water, and plant tissue, and ultimately will be testing the crops, looking for E. coli and similar things.

Pedreira noted that the sediment has developed a crust on top and seeds, even if they are blanched before, will try to germinate but cannot get through the crust. They are experimenting with mixes of seeds, large and small, to see what works.

The researchers are making sure that farmers are involved in every step of the recovery efforts. They have held field trials, workshops, and one-on-one consultations to help growers find the best way forward. On Aug. 20, 2025, UTIA will hold a field day where farmers and producers can see firsthand which strategies work best for their fields and operations.

The field day will be held in Washington County at Runion Farm, 269 Bent Rd., in Limestone, Tenn. On-site registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. EDT. The program will be 9 a.m.-3 p.m. A sponsored lunch will be provided. To register online go to tiny.utk.edu/Flood.

Added Pedreira: “After we make it through this we will have the knowledge we need as a group. If we have another disaster like this, we would be prepared to handle it.”