THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 26, 1996 TAG: 9605250147
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 126 lines
IN IMMENSE FARM FIELDS in the city's rural enclaves, tractors speed across the soil.
The earth is gray and crusty on top, but dark, wet and mushy underneath. It's the wetness that makes the huge tractors rush.
Heavy, frequent rains this spring have delayed area farmers in planting crops that already should have been in the ground. Many Chesapeake farmers report that they're two to three weeks behind in planting corn, and later than they'd like to be in seeding soybeans and cotton.
Now they're racing against time, trying to till, furrow and plant before more rain comes. Or before the beginning of sweltering summer heat waves that can ruin a whole crop of plants that are too young to handle it.
It's hard to say now what effect the fickle spring will have on the volume and quality of crops come harvest time. Much depends on the weather between now and then.
Meanwhile, local farmers are riding a thin line between profit and debt - a perennial balancing act that tests sanity and tries the steadiest of souls.
``We had a similar season once that was very wet,'' said W. Lyle Pugh Sr., 60, who grows corn, soybeans, wheat and cotton on fields in Chesapeake and North Carolina. ``It caused me a lot of emotional strain that it took me a while to get over. I hoped I wouldn't have to go through that again. And now I am.''
The problem is that the business of agriculture works on a tight schedule.
Many area grain farmers say they try to begin preparing their fields in early April, and start planting corn by mid- to late-month. That's so the corn plants will mature enough to withstand the summer heat and so farmers can begin sowing soybeans.
Soybeans could be planted just about anytime from spring to early summer, farmers say. But wheat, which is planted in the fall, generally is harvested in mid-June. So they try to get their soybeans planted before that.
The area's few cotton farmers have an even more complicated situation, because they must squeeze in the planting for that crop during the spring also.
``You can think about it like a foot race,'' said Edgar W. Lane, 49, a Chesapeake resident and lifelong farmer who raises corn, soybeans and wheat. ``When you get behind, you've got to scramble to get back out in front.''
Many farmers are still working feverishly to get their corn in the ground; the corn that has been planted, which normally would be about knee high this time of year, is poking through the ground like green razor stubble.
Other farmers are just now planting soybeans, hoping they'll get finished in time for wheat harvest and praying the wheat hasn't been hurt by an excruciatingly cold winter and a soggy spring.
``The damage is done,'' said David L. Rountree, 50, who farms 1,000 acres in Chesapeake. ``We'll probably break even, just like we always do.''
For produce farmers, it's a similar story, said G. Leon Spence, who has been raising vegetables in Chesapeake all his life.
He had planned to plant 30,000 cabbages, but could only get 7,000 in the wet ground. He had hoped to sow 10-12 acres of potatoes, but could only plant eight acres.
``Every time I'd get ready to plant them the next day, it would rain that night,'' he said.
That was on top of an unusually harsh winter, which ruined his collard crop.
``The cold spell killed them,'' he said. ``It looked like a fire burned them up.''
Like most farmers, Spence is resourceful.
``I'll just plant something else. That's what you have to do.''
It usually comes at a cost, though.
Pugh, for example, had intended to plant 150-200 more acres of corn than he ended up with. He had to stop sowing that in order to begin with his cotton crop.
Meanwhile, prices for grain are at historic highs, said W. Arnold Dawley, director of the Chesapeake/Virginia Beach Farm Service Agency, a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Wheat, for example, generally ranges around $3.50 per bushel, Dawley said. Thursday, it was selling for about $5.50 per bushel locally, according to figures provided by the state Department of Agriculture's Market News Service. Soybeans traditionally fetch $5-$6 per bushel, Dawley said. Thursday, the prices were right around $8.
Any lost acreage, any crops that get damaged, cut into the profits.
``Most farmers who've been in it for any time know they just have to take it as it comes,'' Dawley said. ``The weather is unpredictable, and there's nothing we can do about it. We just have to take it.''
But the difficult spring has added pressure to what is arguably one of the most stressful jobs around.
``It's probably the hardest work there is,'' said John A. Temple, 43, who farms 650 acres in Chesapeake.
There are few farmers who haven't thought about leaving the fields forever. But it's not that easy.
``I've got about $150,000 worth of equipment that I'll sit there and look at, if I don't farm,'' said Rountree, who tried his hand at running a tiny country grocery store in rural Chesapeake, but sold it recently to go back to full-time agriculture.
``I guess it gets in your blood,'' said Temple, who has been farming since childhood. ``I don't know nothing else.''
So they swallow the stress, deal with Mother Nature and cope with the long hours.
This spring, the hours are even longer.
Farmers, who generally work from dawn until dusk or a little later, now are laboring until 10 p.m. or more, aided by lights on the fronts of their machines.
Smaller-scale farmers, who don't have hired help, expect to continue such a grueling pace throughout the summer and into the fall.
``Once you start behind, you stay behind the whole year,'' Temple said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo on cover by MORT FRYMAN
W. Lyle Pugh Jr. tills his field for cotton, again a major crop in
Chesapeake.
Staff photos by MORT FRYMAN
``We had a similar season once that was very wet. It caused me a lot
of emotional strain that it took me a while to get over. I hoped I
wouldn't have to go through that again. And now I am.'' - W. Lyle
Pugh Sr.
``The damage is done,'' said David L. Rountree, 50, who farms 1,000
acres in Chesapeake. ``We'll probably break even, just like we
always do.''
``It's probably the hardest work there is. I guess it gets in your
blood. don't know nothing else.'' - John Temple
``Every time I'd get ready to plant them (potatoes) the next day, it
would rain that night,'' said G. Leon Spence. And the harsh winter
ruined his collard crop. ``The cold spell killed them,'' he said.
``It looked like a fire burned them up.'' by CNB