Rain and flooding damages crops statewide
From the mountains to the coast, farmers are dealing with disaster on their farms. More than two feet of rain has fallen in some counties over the last 12 days, leaving many crops ruined.
Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler said Saturday that the harvest is being affected.
"We're hearing of fresh fruits being damaged, particularly apples and tomatoes and pumpkins," he said.
Leslie Lancaster is the owner of Grandad's Apples in Henderson County. She told ABC-11 Eyewitness news Monday that at least 20 percent of her crop is now unusable due to the rain.
"They are going to be unharvestable and unsellable, and I don't know what we are going to do."
Rain is seeping into the ground and the apples, causing them to expand and crack.
"If we can't get tourists in here, and the tourists dollar, the whole community is losing," Lancaster said.
The problem extends well beyond apples. Brian Long, a spokesperson with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, says tomatoes are also being damaged in our mountain counties. Pumpkins, tobacco, soybeans, and sweet potatoes are in danger across the Piedmont.
In Eastern North Carolina, it is peanuts, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, cotton, and tobacco that are being threatened.
"It's not just the crop yield we are worried about, it's the quality of the crop, too," Long said. "Now the wind advisories could add insult to injury, if crops are blown down."
It has been a tough year for farmers, with a drought and excessive heat earlier in the year when most crops needed moisture. Now this abundance of precipitation is adding insult to injury during harvest time.
Long says North Carolina's peanut crop could be reduced by as much as 9 million dollars this year alone. The reason, because crops will likely yield 200 to 300 pounds per acre less than last year.
