Farmers deal with crop damage issues following Debby….
Georgia’s Bulloch County (WTOC) -Bulloch County farmers are dealing with what they all dread: crop loss from storms.
Tropical storm Debby just last week completely submerged and flooded one field in Bulloch County.
David Crumley, a farmer, claims that he must now decide how to save his crops.
Despite his best efforts, Kairos Farms farmer David Cromley admits he was still unprepared for the amount of severe rain that fell.
When 12 inches of rain fall in a short period of time, as is the case with recent events, it becomes too much for the field’s drain, which is located near the bottom, according to Cromley.
The popular peanut crops in Brooklet are grown in this field, which is a part of Kairos Farms. According to Cromley, this area received up to 19 inches of rain in a week.
Some of the peanut harvests could not be saved due to their total submersion. Cromley asserts that it still might have been worse.
“It would have been a different story a month from now,” Cromley said.
A month before Cromley and his crew were supposed to begin excavating the peanuts, the storm arrived.
“After they are dug up, they are just sitting on top of the soil, and the nuts are drying out in the sun. If there is a significant amount of rain, they can literally wash out of the field,” Cromley stated.
Despite this devastation, the farmer says his staff is grateful since they know they were among the fortunate ones. According to farmer David Cromley, storms like Debby are devastating in the current farming environment.
“Whenever you have something like the storm, or when you see commodity prices that are generally quite low, you know those kinds of prices that are not great right now.”
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