Tag: Farms
Supply-Chain, Weather Issues Mean Late Harvests for Alabama Farmers
On the last day in November, Talladega County farmer Bob Luker was grateful for sunshine and working machinery.
In a normal year, Luker would be done harvesting his cotton by the end of November. This year, he was just getting started on his 800 acres. Weather delays — a cool spring and wet fall — and supply chain issues, especially on equipment parts, have slowed farmers across the state.
It’s another way the national supply chain and inflation issues are hitting home in Alabama. Instead of being able to order parts for quick delivery, farmers are having to wait weeks or spend valuable time traveling to get a needed piece.
“The thing about it isn’t the drive or the expense, it’s the time lost,” Luker said during a phone interview from the cab of his cotton combine. “We only have so many pretty days. You can’t pick cotton in the rain, you can’t pick cotton when it’s wet, you can’t pick it in the mud. And you only have so many days to get this crop out and each day you sit waiting on parts or hunting parts is a day of harvest you lose.” Read more.
Farmers Prefer Too Much Rain to Too Little but Say Enough’s Enough as They Watch Crops Drown
MONTGOMERY — Alabama farmers are looking at this summer’s unusually heavy rains as both a blessing and a curse.
Large amounts of rainfall are great for crops such as corn and wheat, but vegetable and fruit growers are having to abandon a large portion of their crop, especially in south Alabama.
“We’ve probably gotten a year’s worth of rain in three months,” Jeremy Sessions, a farmer in Mobile County told Alabama Daily News. Read more.
Beef, Poultry Farm Operations Hit by Coronavirus, but Peaches Are on Their Way
Pricing and processing delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic have made a direct hit on the Alabama cattle and poultry industries.
Those were more problems that farmers did not need in the wake of tariffs President Trump imposed on China in 2018 and the swath cut by Hurricane Michael on South Alabama farmlands last year.
“A lot of different things have affected the farmers,” said state Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate, himself a cattle farmer.
About 600,000 people in Alabama are involved in the farming industry. That includes row crop, fruit and vegetable farmers as well as beef and poultry farmers.
It’s unclear whether row crop farmers will take a major hit this year. Prices for crops are low now, according to agriculture officials, but a lot depends on whether that remains true through the fall harvest.
On the produce side of the table, it appears the pandemic won’t have as big an impact on Alabama’ fruits and vegetables farmers, because most of those crops are sold direct to consumers. A new website, Sweet Grown Alabama, was launched recently to connect consumers with farmers and ease the process of buying and selling produce. Read more.
Farm Product Prices Fall Amid Pandemic, but No Shortage in Food Pipeline
Alabama’s 33,000-member agriculture workforce continues to operate as essential, but the coronavirus has impacted how much some will get paid for their work.
“Crops still have to get in the ground, cattle have to be doctored,” Brady Ragland, a commodity director for Alabama Farmers Federation, told Alabama Daily News. “Those activities have to go on.”
Some agriculture enterprises — such as farmers markets and cattle auctions — have shifted online where possible because of the coronavirus. But even before the pandemic, farmers were bracing for a tough year.
“Farm income is expected to be considerably lower,” Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture Rick Pate said last week. “Commodity prices including cotton, corn, milk and live cattle have fallen significantly. The coronavirus outbreak has affected commodity prices across the board and is likely to do so for several months.” Read more.
More Alabama Farmers Sign up to Grow Hemp
Jon Hegeman’s newest crop looks like marijuana. It’s got towering, feathery flowers — aka buds — and those tell-tale multi-fingered leaves.
“This is the closest thing you’ll have in Alabama to marijuana,” said Hegeman, a hemp farmer and president and co-owner of Greenway Plants.
For the first time in almost 90 years, it’s now legal to grow hemp in the U.S., including in Alabama. The passage of the 2018 Farm Bill removed hemp from a list of drugs the federal government says have a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use. Read more.
