Farmers Report Crop Damage to Grains, Tobacco

Source from:  By Walt Reichert/Sentinel-News Editor 09/29/2006

It's always something. What had appeared to be the best tobacco crop in a decade or more now may be one of the worst on the selling floor because of wind, rain, hail and not enough labor. "It's probably the best {burley} crop we had the first of August and it will be one of the worst when it comes out of the barn," tobacco and grain farmer Paul Hornback said. Hornback lost 15 acres of standing tobacco in the Bagdad area to hail a couple of weeks ago. "It completely stripped the crop," Hornback said. Other farmers reported water damage to tobacco left in the field. Magistrate Cordy Armstrong, who farms near Cropper, said he had the best crop of tobacco he ever raised get damaged by the wet weather. "It rotted in the field," Armstrong said. Hornback said he has talked to farmers around the state who are reporting damage to tobacco because of the wet weather. According to the Kentucky Agricultural Statistics Service (KASS), farmers across the state are reporting considerable house burn of tobacco caused by the wet weather. Farmers say the problem is not just the rain. Lack of help is causing the tobacco to stay out in the field longer than it ordinarily would. Cut tobacco in the field runs the highest risk of rain and mold damage. Hornback said farmers in Shelby County and across the state are experiencing a shortage of Hispanic workers who are the primary laborers in the tobacco fields. Increased border security and raids by Immigration Control and Enforcement (ICE) have cut into the labor pool, Hornback said. KASS reported this week that 80 percent of the state's tobacco crop had been cut as of Sept. 24. That is behind the average of 87 percent for this date. Farmers are also reporting damage to corn and soybeans from this weekend's heavy rains. Grain farmer Jack Trumbo said he had about 100 acres of soybeans under water in Jefferson County and about 25 acres of corn under water near Bullskin Creek in Shelby County. Trumbo expects the corn likely survived the soaking since the stalks remained standing. But it will take a few days to know if the soybeans made it. "The plants will die but we'll just have to wait to see if the bean was mature and will go ahead and dry down," Trumbo said. KASS reported that grain farmers across the state suffered some damage from the weekend's high water, primarily in low-lying fields. Weather stations across the state reported rainfall in excess of three inches above normal for the week ending Sept. 24. The National Weather Service reports that the state, as a whole, is running more than 10 inches above normal rainfall for the year so far. Enditem