This year will be remembered for an abnormal saturation of rain stranding residents within their own homes and warranting a disaster proclamation by President Obama. As volunteers came together to help remove waterlogged belongings from basements, another group of residents in Santa Rosa County had different problems dealing with the deluge: the county's local farmers.
Mickey Diamond of JM Diamond Farms said he's had to replant 240 acres of cotton. Other farmers replanted ten times the amount, he said.
The flood was not the only problem either. Diamond said there have been four rains over five inches. "It's nice to have one inch of rain, not five." The cost to replant cotton, he said, the nation as a whole will not feel, but the second planting of cotton costs $60 an acre. Planting later also means a smaller yield come harvest time.
Diamond also said standing rain hampers planting. "Lots of farmers still have parts of fields planted," he said. "It's hurt all farmers in the county." He said four other farmers have had to replant peanuts.
Wheat is another concern. "Wheat makes better in dryer conditions," Diamond said. Wheat yield and quality of the seed is down according to Diamond. While agricultural novices equate rainfall with plant growth, Diamond said, "Rain has to fall at the right times."
Right now, Diamond said the county is 75 percent through planting. He still doesn't know what to expect this early in the year, he said. "You can't predict this far out. Only the good Lord knows that."
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Farmers not sure about fall harvest