For Georgia farmers, Hurricane Michael is “the most widespread and devastating hurricane in recollection,” said state Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black. More than 92 poultry barns, housing more than 2 million birds, were destroyed; cotton growers suffered massive losses; and pecan growers lost trees for the third year in a row to a hurricane.
“Crops, animals and infrastructure have all taken a substantial loss,” said Black over the weekend. Southwestern and central Georgia were hit the hardest. Cotton and vegetable crops in the hurricane-hit regions “are now being considered a total loss,” said the state. The hurricane arrived as crops were ready for harvest. Fierce winds stripped cotton fiber from the polls of mature plants. State Rep. Clay Pirkle said the loss “is as bad as it gets. Can’t tell the difference between what I’ve picked and what I haven’t.”
Soon after the hurricane passed, Black said agriculture “definitely” took a $1 billion hit, reported the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Georgia grows about $1.5 billion worth of cotton, pecans and fall vegetables annually, and most of the production area was in Michael’s path.
Georgia leads the nation in broiler chickens, with production worth nearly $4.4 billion last year. Black said poultry is the largest agricultural commodity in the state.
Cotton growers “are reporting losses anywhere from 25 percent to a total loss, depending on location in the state, as well as structural and equipment losses and damage,” said Cotton Grower, a trade publication. “Without question …losses will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Those losses will extend well beyond the farm, as cotton gins, other agribusinesses and rural communities will feel the ripples of Hurricane Michael’s aftermath for years to come.”
Georgia is second to Texas as the largest cotton-producing state and was forecast, before the hurricane, to harvest 2.9 million bales, weighing 480 pounds each, this year, or 1.5 percent of total U.S. production. Georgia also is the largest U.S. pecan producer. Hurricane Michael was stronger than Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and Hurricane Irma in 2017, and caused catastrophic losses in pecan groves, according to the state Agriculture Department.
“Based on the extreme damage in the Dougherty, Lee, and Mitchell county area where so much of Georgia’s crop is grown, the expected near total loss in the furthest southwestern corner of the state, and significant damage in virtually every orchard within the state, my early estimate is that Georgia has lost at least 40-50% of its pecan crop,” said associate professor Lenny Wells of the University of Georgia.
“A very large portion of the pecan crop is on the ground and still in the husks, which at this point may be lost already,” said the Pecan Report.
Peanut farmers were halfway through harvest, compared to 15 percent for cotton and 30 percent for vegetables, and seemed to fare better than other commodities, said Black.