| Relentless Rains Drowning Row Crops |
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By JOEL McNEECE Randall Langford, who farms with James Chrestman and Carter Edmondson, sat high on his tractor looking out over the rain-soaked field wondering how much of this year's sweet potato crop could be saved. "It's the worst I've ever seen, and I've been doing this all my life," Langford said. It's a common opinion among most Calhoun County farmers.  "It's bad," said Keith Spencer of Spencer & Son Farms in Vardaman. "We haven't given up yet, but there's no question it's bad."Steady rains, overcast skies and minimal amounts of sunshine have made harvesting this year's sweet potato crop nearly impossible. The unseasonably wet weather since mid August caused soybeans to rot in the field and severely damaged the county's cotton and corn crops. "It's not necessarily the volume of rain we've had," said Derek Adams, county executive director with the Farm Service Agency. "We had a 17-day stretch without any sunshine. This is the worst I've ever seen. I've talked to a lot of our older farmers and they've all said they've never seen it like this." Adams, the county supervisors and other officials are scheduled to meet this morning (Wednesday, Oct. 14) to initiate the necessary paperwork to declare this a "disastrous" situation and seek federal assistance. "Most farmers have some form of crop insurance," Adams said. "But it never replaces a crop." Adams said it's unknown at this time what level of assistance to help with the loss will ultimately be available. The severity of the loss appears to be around 50% or more with most crops. "We're looking at 50-60% damage on cotton," Adams said. "Beans are the same. Sweet potatoes look good digging, but we don't know if they'll hold up in storage." There have been numerous reports of potatoes breaking down in storage due to the excessive moisture prior to harvest. "Last week was really a pivotal week for farmers," Calhoun County Agent Charlie Fitts said. "We needed warm dry weather and we just didn't get it." Fitts estimated 35-50% loss in the field due to the "wet, cloudy, damp weather." "I'm talking about cotton, soybeans, sweet potatoes, every crop out there," Fitts said. " We've got potatoes rotting in the field, or even worse, in  storage bins. Corn is sprouting in the ears. We've had elevators turning down beans. I can't paint a good picture. It ain't pretty."Fitts said an "abnormal summer" was a big factor in the devastating crop. "It was a lot milder than normal, not as hot or dry," Fitts said. "It started too wet, which caused us to be late getting everything planted, but then we caught timely rains and it really helped the crops." Fitts said that's the shame of the current situation. The crop was looking to be one of the best ever before the constant rains set in. "We had farmers applying growth regulators to cotton to keep it from getting away from them," Fitts said. Adams agreed. "We went from one of the best all around crops that we've ever had to possibly the worst," Adams said. Larry Nelson, with N&W Farms of Vardaman, said last week their harvest was at approximately 20-30% when it should have been 80%. Keith Spencer said the first two weeks of the 10-week harvest period were successful, but the next four weeks were lost.  "We're looking at a 50% loss or worse on our sweet potatoes," Spencer said. "If we stopped right now it could be 70%, but we're hoping to still do some digging."Spencer said many of their potatoes are in the heavier, darker soil, as opposed to the sandy soil. The potatoes in the darker soil, "black dirt," are holding up better, but it takes longer for it to dry out for digging than the sandy soil. Spencer said they planted "late beans," so if the weather breaks they could be salvageable come harvest in the next few weeks. Fitts and Adams both agreed the impact of this year's poor crop could be far reaching. "We're still one of the biggest agricultural counties in the state, especially outside of the Delta" Fitts said. "We rely heavily on agricultural products in this county. It generates a lot of money." "It's amazing the trickle down effect," Adams said. "With fewer potatoes there's less need for sweet potato boxes. It affects the equipment companies. When there's no crop, people can't pay their bills. In small town, rural America it has a tremendous effect." "I'm afraid there's some producers that aren't going to be producing next year and some businesses not in business," Adams said. Langford and Chrestman were overseeing a bucket crew in their field near Banner last week because the field was far too soft for their diggers. Bucket crews involve workers harvesting the potatoes by hand, filling buckets and hauling them to the boxes on the flat-bed trailers. In some areas workers were nearly knee-deep in the mud as they tried to save all the sweet potatoes they could. This year's crop isn't the only one impacted, Langford pointed out. They can't save any seedlings for next year based on what they've seen so far. "I don't know if this is doing any good or not," Langford said looking back at the sweet potatoes almost floating atop the water standing in the other side of the field. "If it rains tomorrow we'll probably just have to pack it in." It rained the next day. |