GEORGIA- CNN.com reports that cotton fields and pecan farms have been devastated by Hurricane Michael. Many of the farmers claim that they were gearing up for a “crop of a lifetime” before all of their hard work was wiped out in a matter of hours.
One cotton farmer, 60-year-old Tom Windhausen, stated that he might never recover from the damage done by recent storms. After being hit by Hurricane Hermine, Hurricane Irma and now, Hurricane Michael. Windhausen believes he may never be able to recover from the devastation.
Many farmers say that they are no longer able to afford the low-interest disaster loans offered by the government and that nothing short of a grant will be able to pull them through.
According to Bob Kemerait, a professor of plant pathology from the University of Georgia, the storm hit at the worst possible time for cotton farmers. Harvesting cotton requires that the plants be sprayed with chemicals that cause the foliage to fall off. The plants then must sit for around one week before it can be collected. Many of the farms had completed the defoliating process prior to Hurricane Michael. The storm’s high-speed winds blew cotton from the plants onto the ground where there was no hope of salvaging anything.
Kemerait claims that losses of 90 percent or even 100 percent have been reported. Some farmers that lost only 70 percent of their crops will take financial hits between $500,000 and $2.1 million. While the farmers have insurance, the payouts do not cover the total losses. The fallout from the loss of agriculture in the area could be massive. Many other businesses are dependent on the area’s farms.
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