By Andrew Wigger

awigger@civitasmedia.com

Sprouted cotton in Newberry County. The cotton grew sprouts due to the extensive rain.
https://www.newberryobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_IMG_0154.jpgSprouted cotton in Newberry County. The cotton grew sprouts due to the extensive rain. Courtesy photo

Rain hurt crops
https://www.newberryobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_IMG_0145.jpgRain hurt crops Courtesy photo

NEWBERRY COUNTY — Due to the historic rain South Carolina suffered last month, almost every farmer in the state was affected some way, according to Alfred “Jay” Crouch with the Clemson Extension Office.

Crouch is the agriculture area Extension agent with the Newberry County Extension Office. He said that an estimated 60 percent of Newberry County farmers lost money due to the rain.

“For some farmers, the lost was substantial. I have submitted three disaster assessment forms for the State Emergency Management Division. One individual I estimated $90,000 and I had another well over $100,000,” he said.

The main problem with the rain, according to Crouch, was the timing. The rain hit during harvest season and cotton was open in the field and some of the soy bean crops were ready to be harvested.

“Timing is everything in this business, and this was bad timing,” he said.

What damaged the cotton was the fact that lint formed off the seed in the bowl. Before a farmer can harvest cotton, the seed has to be mature. A mature cotton seed, when introduced to enough moisture, will sprout and grow.

“Cotton seeds are worth money at the gin, they (farmers) get a credit for that seed. The gin sells that seed into the livestock market for feed. That seed is no longer good when it sprouts, from a gin perspective,” Crouch said. “Because of all the rain, the cotton sprouted.”

The seed credit helps pay to gin the cotton so when the farmers lose that credit the money it takes to gin the cotton comes out of their pocket. Crouch said that the local farmers are picking fairly strong yielding cotton, but it is not profitable cotton because the cotton grew sprouts.

The local soy bean crops that were ready to be harvested were damaged due to lodging, which essentially means they fell down.

“When you see a soy bean out in the field and its ready to be harvested, that plant is essentially dead. The roots begin to rot, that is all that is holding that plant, there is no living tissue inside there anymore, and they can only stand so much,” Crouch said.

The dead soy bean crops will have to be disposed of, whether by mowing or bush hogging. This will need to be done so farmers can start planting their winter crops.

“One company recently announced they will buy salvaged beans up to 75 percent. I recommend to farmers if they do not get back more than it cost to harvest, do not do it,” Crouch said.

The rain has also caused farmers to fall behind on getting their new crops, like small grain, wheat and barley, planted. According to Crouch, some of the crops that were planted are not coming up because they rotted or have moved in the ground.

Soil erosion is another issue the extension office and farmers will have to handle due to the rain.

“With the volume of water, dirt is going to move. We will have some fertile changes, but it will take time to figure out,” Crouch said. “Most farmers are good about sampling every year, and we will make comparisons next year to see what we need to do.”

Next summer, Crouch will have a better idea of the full extent of damage caused by the storm.

“All in all we were blessed here. We have one cotton farmer in this county, not to make light of his loss, which was substantial,” Crouch said. “In the whole grand scheme of things, we came out of this thing OK.”

Reach Andrew Wigger at 803-276-0625 ext. 1867 or on Twitter @TheNBOnews.