Hopefully there was no injury to your family from the recent hurricane Matthew. Weather rarely scares me, but I will admit I became concerned at 4:00 am on the Saturday morning of the storm passing by close to us. The storm has caused damage to pecan orchards and crops that were still in the field.
There is considerable damage that is noticeable throughout Bulloch County and the surrounding area from the recent hurricane. The excessive rain and extended high winds damaged pecan orchards, cotton and peanuts. The pecan trees blown over and broken limbs is most obvious to the eye, but damage to cotton and peanuts were also sustained. There was cotton blown out of the burrs and onto the ground. The peanut crop took on a lot more rain than what was needed for digging purposes and can effect the quality of those peanuts that were already on top of the ground.
Unlike the last two years of wet, cloudy weather for weeks during harvest, at least the sun came out shortly after Matthew got out of our range. Not to say that there is not damage, but hopefully not as many quality issues that we experienced in the last couple years.
Those of you that sustained damage to your pecan orchard may be eligible for assistance under the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA). Please refer to the letter below from Mrs. Gay Harris at FSA about ECP.
The deadline to apply for ECP is November 14. Please also be aware of the Acreage Reporting Date of November 15, 2016, for grass certification.
