In Pope County, farmers like Lisa Harmon are being asked to report agricultural losses after the region experienced numerous collapses caused by ice and snow.
POPE COUNTY, Ark. — Pope County residents are cleaning up after leftover ice and snow caused multiple structures to collapse.
“I heard a noise,” Lisa Harmon said, “And I quickly turned around, and I got to watch this entire barn just collapse.”
Harmon, a farmer who owns Harmon Pfarms in Dover with her husband, said it was an unexpected moment.
The barn holding food for their animals and a new tractor collapsed earlier this week under the weight of the ice and snow.
“It makes you nervous, for sure,” Harmon said. “Now, this was our oldest structure, but that doesn’t mean the other ones aren’t vulnerable. know of people who’ve lost newer structures.”
One of them can be found in the city of Russellville, where retired teacher Tammy Janssen opened Green Thumb Nursery in 2021.
“We’ve spent the last four years remodeling,” Janssen said, “Bringing it back to life.”
That’s why it was so disheartening when one of their greenhouses collapsed earlier this week.
“My son came up here to check on it,” Janssen said. “He made the unfortunate call to me that had fallen through, which he hated to make.”
So, Janssen had to figure out what to do with thousands of plants, and Harmon didn’t have hay for her animals, or a tractor to pull it.
After Harmon made a post to a community Facebook group, however, people stepped up.
“He lives about two miles away,” Harmon said of one helper. “This is a man we’ve known for years, but not a close friend, just mainly a city acquaintance, and he loaned us his tractor for as long as we need it.”
Still, though, the next few months won’t be easy.
Harmon will spend it dealing with insurance, and Janssen hopes she’ll have customer support.
“The best way to support us is come in and just shop,” Janssen said. “And with other businesses in town that have not had business all week-just shopping small is going to be the best.”
The Arkansas Valley Farmers Association posted online that anyone in the area who had any agriculture-related losses due to the ice storm should call and report them.
The number to do so is (479) 968-1102.
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