Farmers are still reeling months after Hurricane Helene ravaged crops across the South

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LYONS, Ga. (AP) — Twisted equipment and downed tree limbs still litter Chris Hopkins’ Georgia farm more than two months after Hurricane Helen made its deadly march across the South.

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The sprinkler irrigation system, about 300 feet (92 meters) long, was upside down in a field, its steel pipes bent and its welded connections broken. The ruined remains of a grain basket were lying on the side of the road. On a Friday in early December, Hopkins pulled his strong limbs from the path of the tractor-like machine that raked the cotton crop six rows at a time.

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“I’ve wrestled with a lot of emotions over the last couple of months,” said Hopkins, who also grows corn and peanuts in rural Toombs County, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) west of Savannah. “Do we get over this and quit? Do we rebuild? It’s emotionally draining.”

Hopkins is among farmers across the South still reeling from the devastation left by Helen. The storm reached Florida on September 26 as a major Category 4 storm and then headed north through Georgia and neighboring states.

Experts estimate the cost to farmers, timber growers and other agricultural businesses from Florida to Virginia will reach more than $10 billion. Losses include destroyed crops, uprooted timber, destroyed farm equipment and mangled chicken houses, as well as indirect costs such as lost productivity in cotton gins and poultry processing plants.

For cotton growers like Hopkins, Helen was hitting just as the fall harvest began. Many have suspended most cleaning operations to try to save what remains of their crops.

‘Stunning’ losses for cotton, pecans and deciduous vegetables

Farmers in Georgia suffered losses from the storms amounting to at least $5.5 billion, according to an analysis by the University of Georgia. In North Carolina, a state agency estimated that farmers incurred $3.1 billion in crop losses and recovery costs after Hurricane Helen caused record rain and flooding. Separate economic analyzes of agricultural damage counted losses of $630 million in Virginia, $452 million in South Carolina, and $162 million in Florida.

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Hopkins believed he had lost half of the cotton on his 1,400 acres (560 ha).

“We were at the most vulnerable stage we could be,” he said. “The lint was open and fluffy and hanging there, waiting to be peeled or picked. About 50% of the harvestable lint ends up on the ground.

Hopkins said that even with insurance, he would not recover the estimated $430,000 in cotton crop losses alone. This does not include the cost of removing debris, repairing or replacing damaged machinery and the loss of two small groves of pecan trees uprooted by the storm.

The storm swept through flowering cotton fields, pecan orchards laden with nuts, and fields where fall vegetables like cucumbers and squash were waiting to be picked. Hundreds of large poultry houses that were used to raise thousands of chickens at one time were destroyed.

Farmers far from the center of Helen were not spared, as tropical storm force winds reached outward as far as 310 miles (499 kilometers).

“It was amazing,” said Timothy Colung, a horticulture professor at the University of Georgia. “This may be too much for some people.”

Hurricane Helen was one of the deadliest hurricanes to hit the United States in nearly two decades, killing more than 200 people. It left more than 100,000 homes damaged or destroyed across the South.

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Will aid come to farmers soon enough?

In November, the Georgia government transferred $100 million it had allocated for construction projects or existing debt payments to fund emergency loans for farmers and cleanup operations in the wake of Hurricane Helen. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has made additional storm relief a priority for the upcoming legislative session.

But the Georgia Constitution prohibits the use of state funds to provide direct disaster aid to individuals and private companies.

In Congress, a new plan late Friday to temporarily fund federal operations included billions of dollars in disaster aid for farmers.

“We need help, but we need it fast,” said Jeffrey Pridgen, a fifth-generation farmer who raises chickens in south Georgia’s Coffee County.

Pridgen operated dozens of poultry houses, each large enough to raise up to 20,000 chickens at a time. Helen destroyed four of them, in addition to thousands of chickens. Only one of Pridgen’s houses remained in working condition, while the others were severely damaged.

The new chicken houses will cost about $450,000 apiece, Pridgen said. Since most of them were decades old, he expected insurance to cover only half the cost.

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“I was looking forward to retiring, but I lost my retirement and my income in one day,” said Pridgen, 62. “It will be two years before we can work at full capacity again. I’m basically starting over.”

“Everyone lost something”

Georgia’s poultry industry suffered losses estimated at $683 million, and farmers were forced to rebuild about 300 chicken houses and repair hundreds more.

The poultry processing plant that Pridgen and other chicken farmers affected by the storm depend on now operates only four days a week, he said.

“We are now, for at least a year, and maybe a little longer, in rebuilding mode,” said Mike Giles, president of the Georgia Poultry Federation. “This affects production in an area for a long period of time.”

Michael Adjemian, a professor of agricultural economics at the University of Georgia, said the devastation in Helen should not have a major impact on consumer prices because crops grown elsewhere could make up for most of the shortfall. Pecans are one possible exception. Georgia is responsible for nearly a third of US production.

“In most cases, even a terrible storm like this will have a relatively small impact,” Adjemian said. “It may not be as noticeable, depending on the product.”

Helen cost Georgia cotton farmers nearly a third of their crop, with direct and indirect losses estimated at $560 million. Some were still recovering from Hurricane Michael in 2018.

Cotton growers also face low prices this harvest season of about 70 cents per pound (0.45 kg), said Taylor Sells, executive director of the Georgia Cotton Commission. This means that they need a large return to make any profit.

“Times were terrible, and then they got hit by a hurricane,” Sills said. “There are people who have lost everything, and there are people who have not. But everyone has lost something.

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