Severe drought, heavy rain, and a tropical storm spelled a hard summer for North Carolina farmers. Now that fall harvest is underway, farmers are battling yet another double whammy: unexpected September downpours and deflated crop prices.
The memory of previous storms this summer and in previous years, especially Tropical Storm Fred’s devastation of mountain counties in 2021, is also fresh in the minds of North Carolinians keeping an eye on the path of Hurricane Helene this week. Forecasts suggest Helene could create heavy rains and winds for Western North Carolina by Friday.
“This summer presented about every challenge that you could throw at a field crop,” Guilford County extension agent Cole Maness told Carolina Public Press.
Cornfields were all but wiped out by drought in late June and early July. In Richmond County, extension agent Anthony Growe told CPP that corn yields are coming in at around 40 bushels per acre. Last year’s statewide average was 147 bushels per acre.
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Farmers rushed to harvest their tobacco as quickly as possible in early August in the face of Tropical Storm Debby, but in many cases, it was too late. Maness estimates that 80% of the tobacco crop in Guilford County was destroyed by wind.
“What was left that didn’t get hurt by the wind was plagued by disease from wet conditions,” Maness said.
Farmers weren’t able to get into their waterlogged fields to spray fungicides and pesticides, allowing mold and other crop diseases to flourish. The tumultuous weather patterns also forced farmers to plant soybeans late, or replant them altogether.
However, not all the news is bad. Some crops, such as peanuts and cotton, are on track for record production, according to Nick Piggott, professor of agriculture and resource economics at NC State University.
An unexpected harvest season storm
Now, the unexpected severity of a mid-September storm system — Potential Tropical Cyclone 8 — is thwarting harvest efforts in coastal counties.
“No one expected it to be as intense as it was,” Amy Mead, extension director in New Hanover and Brunswick counties, told CPP. “It was a fire hose directed at the corridor from Southport to Bolivia, getting 18 to 20 inches of rain in 36 hours. The Weather Service said it would be 4 to 6 inches. It was shocking.”
Luckily, the majority of Brunswick County’s farms are located in the western or northwestern part of the county, sparing them from coastal flooding.
Nearby Bladen County did see some localized flooding in fields, according to county extension director Becky Spearman.
The NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) received reports last week from 50 farmers between Wilmington and Fayetteville that their hog lagoons were threatening to breach, DEQ deputy communications director Josh Kastrinsky told CPP. Hog lagoon breaches are a major threat to public health and water quality, but in this storm, none of the 50 lagoons actually overflowed.
“Because this was not a named storm and it didn’t quite rise to the level of the emergency operations center being activated, we didn’t have the level of data tracking that we did for a named storm like Debby,” Kastrinsky said.
“But this was a very, very large amount of rain that no system is designed to handle.”
Harvest struggles
With the peanut harvest right around the corner, farmers are just hoping that the fields will be dry enough for them to harvest their impressive yields.
“A very wet harvest season can degrade quality of the crops and create a logistical nightmare,” Growe said in Richmond County. “Farmers travel around to find fields they can get into without getting stuck.”
With the corn harvest about halfway through, farmers are taking what they were able to harvest to market. But market prices are causing widespread anxiety.
“The worst part of all this is … that commodity prices are so low,” Growe said. “I imagine that, between the poor yields of corn and the low market price, … farmers are nowhere near breaking even on their income.”
The price crops sell for is determined by global market fluctuations, supply chains and the performance of other agricultural hubs. These forces feel very remote to NC farmers, but determine their bottom line every year, according to Growe.
Rodney Musselwhite, director of the USDA’s branch in Columbus County, added that input prices are up, so farmers are paying more to plant corn, just to receive less at market.
In western counties, farmers are already dealing with Hurricane Helene’s promise of major flooding and high winds.
“We’ve been watching the weather, and it looks like it’s coming right at us,” Clay County extension agent Tyler Osborn told CPP. “Our biggest concern is our flooding issues, and the worry is that the corn harvest might be affected by flood.”
Another major concern is the apple trees of Henderson County, whose branches are now heavy with apples.
“Trees with a lot of apples on them are heavy, prone to breakage and to the apples being blown off,” Henderson County extension agent William Kelley told CPP.
“High wind is probably the biggest issue for that crop, although heavy rains can also cause fruit cracking. We’re almost halfway through the apple-picking season, so there’s still a lot of varieties that haven’t gotten mature yet.
“If it’s as widespread as they’re predicting it’s going to be with the rain and potential wind, there’s significant potential loss in our agricultural community in Henderson County.”
Federal assistance
Governor Roy Cooper announced a state of emergency in the face of Hurricane Helene on Wednesday, which is set to remain effective until Saturday. He warned of possible tornadoes, floods and landslides, all of which could interfere with efforts to harvest crops.
Back in July, a disaster declaration was issued for Columbus County and surrounding areas due to drought.
“It’s our job to document these disaster events, like the drought and now the rain,” Musselwhite told CPP. “Our job is to show Washington what is going on the ground in the area, and hopefully get some assistance.”
Emergency loans are not a popular option due to their high interest rates and the complicated requirements required to apply, according to a USDA spokesperson.
However, the USDA offers other emergency assistance programs, such as the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program. The number of farmers who filed for the program this year illustrates the severity of this season’s losses. In 2022, 428 notices of loss were filed statewide. In 2023, the number was 696. This year, 1,132 filings are either approved or in-process, with more than $3 million disbursed so far this year.
In addition, the number of applications for the Livestock Indemnity Program, which compensates farmers for weather-related livestock deaths, has already doubled from 2023’s numbers.
Looking forward
“You know, I think if they made it through this year, they’re going to be OK,” Guilford County extension agent Maness said.
As for how farmers worrying about harvest now can avoid another season like this one, Maness suggests irrigation to deal with drought.
“It just seems like every year that the droughts continue to get worse in the summer, and irrigation could save a lot of these crops,” Maness said.
“I know irrigation equipment has gotten more expensive since COVID, but there are some cost share programs that farmers could look into. I think that’s a good long term plan.”
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