Farmers in southeast Georgia are still trying to recover from Hurricane Helene, the most catastrophic and costly hurricane they’ve ever seen, superseding even Hurricane Katrina.
Cleanup is underway, but it might take years to put the pieces back together. Farmers say with lower commodity prices, many were already on the financial brink before the storm.
Catastrophic Damage from Hurricane Helene
The loss from Hurricane Helene was devastating for farmers in southeast Georgia. A foot of rain and hurricane winds of 125 mph ripped through Coffey County, the epicenter.
“We were considered one of the hotspots for it because that was the highest-recorded wind. We had 30 tornadoes also come through this county at the same time during the hurricane,” says Van Grantham, a farmer in Coffee County, Ga.
He says the biggest loss was to timber as tree stands they’ve been growing for 35 to 40 years are completely gone and will cost $1,000 per acre to cleanup and restore.
“There was probably 75% to as high as 100% damage on timber stands,” he adds.
Severe Impact on Agriculture in Coffey County
The Granthams also have 215 acres of peanuts to harvest and 1,400 acres of cotton. The latter has been nearly wiped out.
“We’ve lost all of our cotton acres and peanuts,” Grantham says. “We should have been midway through harvest, if not three-quarters. We can’t get into the fields, and they’re saying everything is down [power] for another three to four weeks.”
Livestock Losses
In addition to row crops, the Granthams also lost livestock. They lost several cattle and over 100,000 chickens on their operation.
It’s a story of dramatic losses and damage when you talk to any farmer in southeast Georgia right now.
“It’s about a four-county area that was hit. It’s counties like Kulfi County, Jeff Davis and Atkinson County,” he adds. “I know there’s 598 chicken houses total, but there’s 298 on the ground.”
The Financial Hit From the Storm
Thousands of farms and homes are still out of electricity and water. Farmers in southeast Georgia have met with state and federal officials with the message they need disaster assistance immediately.
“It was already struggling before, and then this just kind of added way more on us physically, mentally and financially. I mean, this is a financial burden with the devastation,” adds Chase Grantham, Van’s son.
While the immediate needs are clear, Chase says it could take farmers several years to rebuild and they may never be whole.
Seeing the Devastation First-Hand
Farm Journal’s Trust in Food team traveled to southeast Georgia last week and saw the devastation first-hand. The team spoke to growers, walked cotton fields torn to shreds by the storm and saw infrastructure crushed by the storm. Trust in Food’s Andrew Lyon spoke to AgriTalk’s Chip Flory about what the team saw last week and the impact it could have on growers for years to come. You can listen to that conversation here.
