Can farmers and buying points recover in time to gather the 2024 crop?
⋅ BY AMANDA HUBER ⋅
Hurricane Helene swirled past its Florida landfall and was still a strong, fast-moving hurricane well into North Georgia. Devastation was left in its wake, state by state, until its exit through Virginia back into the Atlantic Ocean. When phrases like, “worse than Michael or worse than Idalia,” are used, it conveys the level of trauma inflicted, albeit relative to where and what the storm caused.
University of Georgia Extension peanut specialist Scott Monfort says in simple words, “It was so devastating. Farmers first had to think about whether their families and homes were safe, then their barns and getting power back on before thinking anything about the crop.”
Damage To Industry Infrastructure
In the wake of their Hurricane Helene assessments, Monfort says he made a few observations that had not really occurred to him before.
“First, you can’t get into fields because of trees that are down,” he says. “There are so many smaller roads farmers have to go down to get to fields that aren’t a priority for state department of transportation. If you wanted to get into the field, you can’t until these trees and debris are removed.”
Even when bigger roads are cleared, often debris is just barely moved off the roadway so that cars can pass through. “Some equipment is two lanes and then some,” he says.
Yet another realization that was brought home is just how reliant farmers are on technology and that farmers would possibly have to dig peanuts without their GPS systems to follow.
“Vines were tossed about so much that it will be nearly impossible to find the rows,” Monfort says. “Decisions would have to be made whether to wait until power and signals returned versus letting the crop go beyond maturity and having pod shed.
“That’s not an easy decision, considering a row missed by 6 inches can lose you 500 to 600 pounds per acre quickly.”
Working Together To Make It Happen
Monfort says for the crop itself, he estimates that about 10% might be lost. However, the real disaster in the making is with buying points.
“If we can get this crop out of the field, it can’t stay in the trailer for more than 24 hours with that level of moisture and no dryer without starting to mold,” he says. “There’s a lot of peanuts that need to come out of the ground but buying points don’t have power. Some buying points lost elevators. Buying points will have to team up and work together to get this crop into the warehouse.”
“The East Georgia peanut region has been devastated,” says National Peanut Buying Points Association executive director and Peanut Grower marketing editor Tyron Spearman. “Winds of 90 to 100 miles per hour pounded the region causing major damage to homes, drying sheds, elevators and storage buildings. Trees blocked roadways and fell on power lines. Buying points cannot operate the offices and drying sheds or conduct the grading system operations without electricity.”
According to Georgia Power, more than 5,000 power poles will need to be repaired or replaced, more than 500 transformers were damaged and more than 9,000 spans of wire, equivalent to an estimated 425 miles, will have to be fixed.
“UGA Extension teams began assessing farm damage and collecting data from the storm, which is expected to take a few weeks,” Spearman says. “We are sharing critical information with congressional offices to ensure they fully understand the extent of the damage to our industry. Additionally, NPBPA and others are working closely with USDA’s Farm Service Agency to facilitate debris clearing so growers can better assess their losses.”
Monfort says it might be a bit of good fortune that the peanut crop was running a bit behind, but his advice is just to keep moving forward as best you can.
“Take pictures and document losses as much as you can,” he says. “It’ll be economically devastating, but growers have been in good spirits. They were glad Extension came to visit and check on them.” PG