Chautauqua County grape farmers could be in trouble, following a late April freeze that took out many crops across the area.

"April 24th, we had a severe freeze," said Gary Burmaster, owner of Liberty Vineyard. "It took all of the primaries and a considerable amount of the secondary buds."

Burmaster says he could be looking at a fraction of his usual harvest this year.

"Two tons [per acre] would be really good...This is less than a ton to the acre," continued Burmaster  "[A typical harvest] would be closer to eight."

Now, Burmaster is turning to both the state, and federal government, for financial assistance to help his family-owned business not die on the vine.

"We currently have some crop insurance that'll pay a little bit," said Burmaster. "But, it won't come anywhere near as close to what the loss is. Right now, we're waiting for New York State to declare this a federal disaster area, which should happen, and then there should be federal state funding to maybe help with finances to get through this year."

But until Burmaster can get government assistance, he's concerned with how the loss will affect his small town's rural economy.

"It not only affects us as grape growers here financially, it affects our tractor places, everybody that's associated with us our workers, the whole works," said Burmaster. "You got to kind of tighten your belt and hopefully get through this the best you can and move on."

At this time, vineyard owners in Erie County seem to have been spared from the frost, with the majority of the damage increasing as you move further Northeast up the Lake Erie coastline.