Total rainfall hurts Baldwin County farmers

BALDWIN COUNTY, Alabama (WKRG) — It’s no secret that farmers depend on rain, but lately there’s been plenty in Baldwin County.

“You’re looking at tens of millions of dollars in harvests we stand to lose a bunch of money. It’s just a disaster here right now,” Jeremy Sessions said.

Parts of Baldwin County received nearly a foot of rain this month alone, nearly double the average for a typical August. This is hurting farmers who are struggling this month, especially those trying to grow cotton, peanuts, corn and pecans.

“These effects are going to be felt in the fall, at Christmas, at Thanksgiving. Those pecan candies that people like to have from local farms, the quality is going to be affected,” Sessions added.

At the Burris Farm Market in Loxley, longtime owner and farmer Greg Burris is already looking ahead to October. That’s when he plants strawberries that should be ready to pick in January. This is the typical pattern, but this year high rainfall totals could affect that.

“I have to go to the field to prepare the ground. October is coming fast,” Burris said.

Burris says rain has affected work on the farm since June. “We have manpower that we have to keep busy working or we lose it,” he added.

It’s a sentiment shared by other farmers who say they’re doing their best to stay busy until it dries out, but in the meantime they’re losing money.

“We try to focus on our equipment, working in the barns, trying to work on projects, doing preventative maintenance on our equipment and getting things ready, so in case he tries and we can get into the fields, we’ll be ready to roll,” added Sessions.