Senator Charles Schumer and FEMA officials toured storm damage Monday in the "black dirt" region of Orange County. Schumer is pushing for federal aid of any kind to help farmers devastated by Irene. Our John Wagner has the story.

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GOSHEN, N.Y. -- Chris Pawelski has spent the last 15 years working the soil for his onions, but now tears are in store because of the cutting damage Irene caused, only days before harvest time.

"If we don't get the kind of assistance that we talked about during this meeting with Senator Schumer, then we're done," said Pawelski.

"This storm came at the worst time for them, because they spent all their money to make the crop and the crop's gone," said Senator Schumer. "So we need a help, we need some kind of help for them and I'm going to fight hard to try to find it."

Out of all 51 acres of onions on the Pawelski farm, 48 drowned in the flood. A loss of $400,000. Many Orange County farmers need help now just to stay afloat.

"Other small businesses, you know, they qualify for emergency funding from FEMA which, you know, is very quick, but generally in agriculture, if they get disaster aid, sometimes it can take two to three years to get payments out," explained Paul Ruszkiewicz, president of Orange County Vegetable Growers.

Normal agriculture aid won't do much to help local farmers. That's why Schumer is asking FEMA for an exemption to cover crops under individual assistance. Farmers need money now for old loans and to order supplies for next year. With no cash or credit, there will be no next year.

"And we're looking at really, how do we survive," said Pawelski. "And if we don't, then we don't purchase seed, we don't purchase chemicals, we don't go to the lumber yard, we don't go to the hardware store, we don't go use all those things, it has a major ripple effect in the community."

An annual ripple effect estimated at $100 million on the county. Schumer assured local officials that Orange will be receiving public assistance from FEMA to help the county take care of $15 million of infrastructure repairs. But farmers have no assurance.

"It varies by farm and by grower, but I mean there isn't a farm in the valley that isn't facing some kind of a financial disaster this year," said Ruszkiewicz.