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RALEIGH, N.-C. (AP) – Hurricane Florence is testing the determination of Carolinian farmers, who could be hit by billions of dollars of farm damage while feeling the effects of Hurricane Matthew almost two years ago.
After the strong winds and last weekend's rain measured in feet, followed by the rivers and stagnant water this week, the first agricultural reports confirm the pre-storm concerns regarding the loss of tobacco crops, cotton and corn.
Industry leaders in North Carolina are still worried about whether sweet potatoes and peanuts – grown under the ground and susceptible to flooding – will also suffer a lot.
Matthew injured farmers in eastern North Carolina in 2016, but this storm came in October, after most major crops were introduced. With Florence, most of the important crops were still in progress or were just beginning.
"This hurricane could not come at a worse time," said North Carolina farm office president Larry Wooten.
North Carolina will probably have no preliminary estimate of crop damage until late next week, said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler.
The flood waters and the blocked country roads still prevented the agronomists of the agencies from checking the farms. Five of the top six agricultural counties in North Carolina are in the most affected areas of the eastern part of the state.
"I think it will easily cost billions of dollars," Troxler said in an interview on Thursday, calling the damage "catastrophic" and "unbelievable".
In South Carolina, crop damage has been estimated at $ 125 million so far, Governor Henry McMaster said on Thursday at the congressional delegation.
This week, Agriculture Commissioner Hugh Weathers visited farmers in areas damaged by Matthew and flooding in 2015. Weathers said farmers told him that high winds and peanuts are rotting. the harvest was a total loss.
Farmers in North Carolina had several days notice in Florence to harvest what they could and move livestock to higher areas or to the market, but they could not do much to prepare.
"Farmers have been facing several years of (low) commodity prices, Matthew has arrived … and now we are facing Florence," said Jason Jones, a fifth-generation farmer in Craven County.
He stated that the unharvested corn on his 1,800-acre farm was "almost completely flat" and that the neighboring farms had lost all their tobacco in the fields. Jones says farmers have crop insurance, but that does not cover the total loss.
"For farmers in eastern North Carolina, we are hanging on a thread," Jones said.
The governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, said during his visit to the state Wednesday that making the whole farmers would require more than an "agricultural bill".
"We will have to take a special approach to our farming communities because they have taken a punch," said Cooper, who planned to see the farm damage Friday.
North Carolina remains the country's largest tobacco producer with more than 330 million pounds in 2016. Graham Boyd, General Manager of the North Carolina Tobacco Growers Association, estimates that losses could rise to 125 million pounds. million pounds, valued between $ 250 and $ 350 million.
About 40% of the tobacco crop remained in the field when Florence arrived, said Boyd, with the highest quality leaves to harvest. The leaves began to "melt on the stem" – disintegrating when the sunny sky followed heavy rains and stagnant water.
Of the 5,000 acres that the Craig West family operates near Fremont – about 50 miles southeast of Raleigh – the largest producer of silver is the 500 acres of tobacco.
Sixteen inches of rain, it was impossible to harvest the leaves still in the fields in time, even if the winds had not beaten them, so they were about as attractive and salable as bruised bananas, said West .
"Anyway, we did not have a good growing season, we had a pretty severe drought in the beginning, then it started to rain, we had too much rain before the storm," said West. Thursday. "So, we've already had some disease problems – it's been magnified since the storm."
West's loss of tobacco means that the farm's nearly $ 6 million in gross revenue will be reduced by about 30%, he added.
Livestock losses in North Carolina are estimated at 3.4 million poultry and 5,500 hogs to date, the State Department of Agriculture said. Both represent a small percentage of the 800 million broilers – chickens reared for meat production – and 9 million pigs harvested each year. Troxler said damage to chickens and pigs would be significant.
Kim Kornegay's family farm, in Johnston County, could lose 40 percent of its cotton crop, said farm manager T. T. Sasser said Thursday. Workers in the area prepared to face the mud on Friday to see what sweet potatoes could be salvaged.
"We are optimistic, but we are also realistic," said Kornegay.
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