Local farmers lose crops because of hail, strong winds

The unusual trend of strong storms this month continues to cause damage in our area

NOXUBEE COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – The unusual trend of strong storms this month continues to cause damage in our area.

These June storms have caused damage to homes, some greenhouses, and now crops.

“It’s just farming, last year we had one of the best cotton crops we’ve ever had and we started raining when the bowls started opening and rotted about a fourth of our crops so it is life, you just got to live with nature,” said local farmer Jack Huerkamp.

Jack Hurekamp is one of the farmers impacted by Wednesday night’s storms in Noxubee County.

Around this time of year, farmers are halfway through the growing season, but the weather slowed down production.

“The corn, in this case, is at a very vulnerable stage where it’s approaching the tassel line. It’s developed all its height basically and all of its leaves are exposed to this damage, and in this case, the hail damage stripped all the leaves off and mutilated and caused a lot of serious damage to the plants which is going to result in a huge yield reduction,” said Mississippi State Extension Office corn expert Dr. Eric Larson.

Larson said the damage varies for each farmer, but the damage he’s seen will leave a chunk out of people’s crops and pocketbooks.

On average, farmers that plant 100 acres of corn can expect $500 per acre. That won’t be the case here.

“When you have loses that are you know 50% or higher which we expect from this storm damage that affects their careers and their livelihood and the profit they potentially can make because their profit margin is much lower than that,” said Larson.

Larson met with some farmers to assess their damage and to offer some tips moving forward, such as insurance information.

Although a good percentage of the crops are gone, farmers like Hurekamp are optimistic.

“It’s going to delay us a couple of weeks it’s going to make our crop a little bit later, but we still, as terrible as that looks right now there’s still room to salvage a decent crop out of this,” said Huerkamp.

Agriculture is Mississippi’s largest industry with corn and cotton both bringing in over $600 million each.

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