Ida Further Slows Harvest for Southern Farmers

A car passes by a rain-soaked cotton field in rural Henry County, Ala. late Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009....

A car passes by a rain-soaked cotton field in rural Henry County, Ala. late Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009. The wind and rain from Tropical Storm Ida has compounded the misery for Southern farmers who were already coping with a delayed harvest season. (AP Photo/The Dothan Eagle, Jay Hare)

(AP)

Tropical Storm Ida may not have done much damage when it hit the Gulf Coast this week, but its wind and rain compounded the misery for Southern farmers already coping with a wet, difficult harvest season.

"Tack this to the weather we've already had and it's adding insult to injury. This season has been topsy turvey," said Andy Wendland, who grows cotton, corn, soybeans, wheat and other grains in central Alabama.

The problem is that a wet spring delayed planting and a rainy, cool fall has delayed the harvest of cotton, peanuts and other crops by more than a month. Ida's rain and wind further hindered frantic farmers desperate to get crops out of the ground and to market.

"Farmers had been so far behind, this put them in a worse situation than they were already in," said Greg Gibson, public relations coordinator for the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation. He said Ida mostly affected farmers in the southeastern section of the state.

Jeff Helms, communications director for the Alabama Farmers Federation, said harvest operations already were delayed by one of the wettest Octobers on record.

"Normally this time of year three-fourths of the cotton in the state would be harvested and now only one-third of the cotton has been harvested," Helms said.

The rains from Ida have also dampened the crop outlook. Farmers said they generally expect yields, especially for cotton, to be lower than normal this year.

"Most of the farmers have gone from viewing this as a good to excellent crop to a fair to good crop," Helms said.

In some cases, farmers worry that they will lose some of their crop to rot. Others say the quality of their harvest may be harmed by the excess rains.

Jim Kelly, who farms more than 3,000 acres of cotton, peanuts and corn in southeast Alabama and northwest Florida, said cotton turns grayish and becomes less valuable if it stays on the bush too long.

"Overall the cotton quality is not very good. I'd say we've lost about 30 percent of the cotton crop at this time," said Kelly, who is a member of the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries Board of Directors.