Oh man, you're probably wishing you hadn't spent that $4,500 on a Rick Perry head planter yesterday. If you'd saved it, you could have put it towards … well, a bag of onions, but also they'll throw in some dirt!
The Pawelski family farm, located in New York's Hudson Valley, lost 48 of 51 acres of its onion crop to Hurricane Irene. FEMA doesn't cover agricultural losses, and USDA's coverage is slow and stingy — and meanwhile the Pawelskis are $200,000 in debt, because at this stage of the growing season they'd sunk most of their money into their crop. So they're turning to eBay to help cover the damage. Technically the $150,000 asking price is for a single bag of onions, but you also get some dirt! And, you know, the knowledge that you helped a fourth-generation family farm that was otherwise likely to fail.
Is this the best way for the Pawelskis to recoup their losses? Probably not — I mean, we've seen how the rich behave in this country, what are the chances that someone with a spare $150,000 also gives a crap? But it's a good way to get attention for the plights of farmers who were decimated by Irene and other extreme weather events. They don't have a lot of help coming from other quarters.
