Federal officials to assess drought damage
Sussex County farmers continue to watch their corn crop turn brown and curl as drought conditions worsen with each day that goes by without rain. Federal officials were expected to begin studying the damage this week, but some have already predicted that they could harvest nothing this fall from hundreds of acres of non-irrigated field corn.
Farmers are in line to lose thousands as the corn continues to die out across Delaware’s lower two counties, with some relief coming from crop insurance policies and potentially from low-interest federal loans. Danny Magee, a Williamsville farmer, said last week that his entire field corn crop he planted on 500 acres earlier this year is burned and worthless.
“You went to high school?” Magee asked this week. “You had a class called history? That’s what my field crop is. It’s done, gone, over with. It’s a disaster and just getting worse every day.”
Secretary of the Delaware Department of Agriculture Michael Scuse asked federal officials last week to study the damage. Robin Talley, division director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service agency, said agency officials planned to begin that work late this week — a move that could lead to federal aid in the form of low-interest loans.
Talley said that a maximum of $500,000 would be available to farmers at 3.75 percent interest if the federal government granted a formal request for aid from the governor. The agency must determine that 35 percent of the crop had been lost before the state can file any such request, which already looks likely.
“It’s serious,” Scuse said this week. “In southern Kent County and Sussex County, any corn that is not irrigated there will be very little, if any, yield.”
Like many others late last week, Selbyville-area farmer Clifton Murray said that at least a quarter of his corn crop was already irreversibly damaged, with more dying out daily.
“Everywhere I see around is bad. We’re not different really,” Murray said. “We’re getting what we can and we’re watching the rest of it burn up. It’s just dying away.”
Most farmers locally expected to harvest more than 100 bushels per acre of the dry field corn. Beleaguered by hot and dry weather, farmers and agricultural experts said this week that many will be lucky if they harvest half of that amount.
Since June 1, only 3.76 inches of rain has fallen on the area, according to National Weather Service numbers recorded in Georgetown. More than 17 inches fell in that time period in a soggy 2006, greatly surpassing a 29-year average of 5.8 inches. The drought in the area was labeled “moderate” last week by the University of Nebraska’s drought monitoring service.
Monetary losses because of the dying corn can be dramatic, especially on complete die-outs, with farmers now spending roughly $300 per acre to plant and grow field corn.
Crop insurance policies, which have grown in prominence over the last decade as input costs have raised, will help, but many farmers also complain about the cost of those policies and say they are only partially covered. Of the 578 policies sold to cover Delaware corn last year, 459 policy holders opted for 70 percent coverage or less, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.
Keith Johnson, who grows corn on more than 400 acres near Roxana, said he opted for 70 percent coverage.
“Anytime you have to invoke insurance, you’re only covering your expenses. That becomes a scary point,” said Johnson, adding that bad years hurt the farm’s average yield, which lowers any future insurance payoffs. “We caught a couple rains that others have missed. We missed a couple rains that others have received,” Johnson said. “We’re still dry. We have corn curled.”
The National Weather Service is calling for a chance of rain and thunderstorms for southeastern Sussex County tonight, through the weekend and into Monday morning. Many believe the rain will not help most of the corn but could provide for a healthy soybean crop, which is being infested by insects that thrive in hot and dry weather and can ravage a crop.
“The majority of the corn is probably beyond where it could be really saved,” said Cory Whaley, Sussex County agriculture extension agent with the University of Delaware’s Cooperative Extension. “The most critical time is during pollination, and the majority of the corn is through that. I think if we get a rain this week, we might be able to fill some soybeans out.”