THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 23, 1996 TAG: 9604230348
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JODY SNIDER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines
If it were August, area farmers would be singing in the rain.
But March and April showers have left them grumbling in the mud and unable to prepare the fields for spring planting.
``I put a tractor in the field for the first time this spring on Wednesday,'' said Ray Cartwright, who farms 550 acres of corn in Chesapeake. ``I should have started planting corn April 10.''
Chesapeake farmer Lyle Pugh said Thursday that he had worked his fields only three days.
``We should have started getting the land ready to plant March 1, but the fields were mud, slush and water then . . . ''
Pugh, who usually plants 800 acres of corn and 400 acres of cotton, said, ``Some things are going to be left undone, and what is done will be done quickly, just to get the crop in the ground.''
The Tidewater Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Suffolk said 3.98 inches of rain fell on southside fields in March, followed by 2.42 inches by April 21 - plenty to keep heavy equipment out of fields.
Arnold Dawley, director of the Chesapeake and Virginia Beach Farm Service Agency, said less than 10 percent of the corn crop had been planted in Chesapeake and Virginia Beach.
``Every time the ground starts to dry up, we get another inch of rain,'' he said. ``And one inch of rain will put farmers out of their fields for three days.''
Suffolk and Isle of Wight and Southampton County farmers have planted much of their corn crop, although rain delayed them about two weeks.
Many area farmers expect to plant cotton this week, and peanut planting should begin May 1. Before that, however, comes plowing, discing and applying weed killers.
Robert Goerger, Isle of Wight extension agent, said, ``All these jobs will back into each other, where normally there's a little breathing space.''
Peter Frank Crocker, who farms 600 acres of corn and 400 acres of peanuts in Isle of Wight, said he churned his land to speed drying.
``I've gotten stuck once or twice,'' he said, ``but you've got to do something to move things along.''
Despite the delays, some farmers expressed optimism.
Suffolk farmer Joe Barlow, 67, called a wet season ``a good sign.''
He said, ``A wet season now will give us good subsoil moisture later if we don't get the rain we need in the summer months.''
The recently passed Freedom to Farm Bill reduced peanut quota prices from $678 a ton to $610 a ton and reduced by 18.4 percent the peanut quota - the amount a farmer can grow for the guaranteed price.
As a result, most peanut farmers report a 5 percent to 10 percent reduction in planted acreage.
``It's a huge loss to farmers,'' said Melanie Lassiter, county executive director of the Farm Service Agency in Suffolk.
Lassiter said a farm that grew 100,000 pounds of quota peanuts last year made $33,950. This year, with the reduced price and quota, that same farm will make $24,858, she said.
The farm bill also lifted limitations on corn acreage, so farmers are free to plant according to market demand.
Due to a national shortage in corn, prices have soared to $3.80 a bushel for corn booked for September, compared to $2.10 last year. Last year's corn left in storage is selling for $4.75 a bushel.
``The opportunity to make a nice profit is good if the weather cooperates,'' Goerger said.
Cartwright, the farmer, said, ``Adverse weather is something we're used to. It's a way of life. It could be worse. It could be still raining.''
The National Weather Service calls for clear skies through Wednesday. AVERAGE RAINFALL
MARCH:
Average rainfall: 3.95 inches.
1993 6.40 inches
1994 10.13 inches
1995 3.67 inches
1996 3.98 inches
APRIL:
Average rainfall: 3.25 inches
1993 4.64 inches
1994 0.80 inches
1995 1.45 inches
1996 2.42 inches through April 21
Source: Tidewater Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Suffolk. Averages calculated from 62 years of rain data. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II, The Virginian-Pilot
While plowing Robbie Taylor's farm in Suffolk's Chuckatuck area,
Tony Wilson checks the plow's blades. Rain has delayed plowing and
planting, but as one farmer said, ``A wet season now will give us
good subsoil moisture later if we don't get the rain we need in the
summer months.''
KEYWORDS: WEATHER FARMING by CNB