Flooding affects local farms, including Donna's Red River Farms

DONNA, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Last week's historic rainfall has left many farmers dealing with damaged crops and thousands in lost revenue.

Nicholas Billman, the owner of Red River Farms in Donna, said his produce was just about a week away from being ready to harvest when it was all destroyed in last week's floods.

"As a farmer, we gamble. We're faithful but we gamble," Billman said. "We put in, but we got to get it back and if we don't get it back, we can't produce the next season."

Billman said among the crops that he lost were tomatoes, watermelon, lettuce and other leafy vegetables.

In total, he estimates roughly $35,000 in lost revenue and over $9,000 to fix his damaged irrigation.

"It's rough," he said. "We were almost at the finish line to get that product out to people and now it's not even usable at all."

Billman shared that it's just him and his children running the farm. They plan to start fresh once the standing water recedes, but Billman said that, like many local farmers, he couldn't afford for this to happen.

"I'm a small farmer," he said. "I don't have that insurance ... Everything I have from previous seasons goes back into it and I'm not living large."

Billman said he's tried to get crop insurance in past years, but they don't always cover the type of crops he grows and he doesn't have the profit margins to afford it.

He plans to sell his other produce, like strawberries and other food items, to help cover the cost of what he lost.