Northeast Mississippi farmers struggle as excessive rain has inundated fields, stunted growth

Yahoo

3 days ago

SHANNON – By now, Clay Mask should be standing knee high in soybeans.
Instead, the soybeans are stunted, barely sticking out of the ground in water-logged fields that have seen more than enough rainfall this year.
"We've planted about 1,500 acres, split between corn and soybeans, and there's probably about a third of those acres that need to be replanted," Mask said. "The rest of the acres we haven't gotten to plant, and we aren't going to because of all the rain."
Farmers across the state — and across the Midsouth for that matter — have been unable to work their fields because of the excessive rainfall.
"It's the worst I've seen, and I've been around farming a long time," said Brian Pieralisi, a cotton specialist for the MSU Extension Service. "My grandfather was a farmer, my father was a farmer, and I've been a farmer, too. I've never seen anything like this with growers really struggling to get planted."
Roughly 52 inches of rain has fallen so far this year in North Mississippi, about 50% more than average.
"By this time, everything should have been in the ground," said Mask, a sixth-generation farmer and owner of Sweet Water Farms. "But we've had too much water.'
To make matters worse, the rainfall this year follows a drought that plagued farmers for much of last year.
"Last year, we averaged 16 bushels across our farm. I thought it would be better this year, but it'll be worse," Mask said.
Typically Mask would get about 40 bushels an acre. He's now looking at a yield that could be potentially only about a fifth — or worse — of what it should be.
And that won't pay the bills.
Mask has already paid the rent on the 2,700 acres he farms, as well the fertilizer that was put on those fields. But all that fertilizer has been washed away.
"Those are expenses we have no way to recoup," he said.
Agriculture is a $9 billion industry in Mississippi, but many farmers, like Mask, are struggling this year.
Add to that list Herman Hussey, who has had his share of challenges with trying to grow his crops. In early April, he was able to plant corn for only four days.
"It rained right after that, and it was the 20th of April that we were last able to plant; we didn't go back to the fields except for about two hours in May," Hussey said. "Right now, everything should be planted, and we should just be spraying and maintaining."
Hussey planted 1,000 acres of corn, but he said it didn't produce a good stand, which refers to the number of good plants that emerge from planting. The better the stand, the better the yield.
"We didn't get a stand to start with, so we were looking at replanting in it,' he said. 'But we never got to do that or put any fertilizer on it. The next chance we had to do that was June, but it was too late. It was basically a fail at that point. It's too late to fix it."
Hussey opted to destroy the corn hoping to get back and planting in the field, but the field was no longer workable.
He switched gears and now hopes to plant soybeans into early July, knowing that the yield will be less than ideal.
There are windows of plantings for corn, soybeans, cotton, etc. It's too late to plant corn and cotton, and the window is quickly closing for soybeans.
According to MSU Extension, soybeans have the advantage of a planting window that extends to early July. Soybeans are the third largest agricultural crop in Mississippi, valued at $1.3 billion.
'It has certainly been a difficult year to get in the field and get planted,' said Justin Calhoun, Extension soybean specialist. 'I'd say the majority of our crop went in on the normal to late time frame.
'There are still quite a few acres that have yet to be planted, but they are in small pockets around the state that just haven't caught any breaks in the rain.'
For cotton, May is the right time to plant, but Hussey was unable to plant any during the month.
So he tried soybeans next, and he planted about 3,000 acres over the six to seven days when it wasn't raining or the fields weren't too wet.
Unfortunately, Hussey said, "about 1,000 acres of that has been devastated by all the rain."
A lifelong farmer, Hussey, 58, said the rainfall this growing season has been unprecedented.
"I've seen it rain May out, I've seen June rained out. I've never seen May and June together rained out," Hussey said.
Taking the risk
If the weather holds and the fields dry some, Mask can take a chance and plant soybeans on the remaining acres that haven't been touched. However, it's a big gamble.
"So, if we do decide to roll the dice, we won't have any insurance on it," he said. The deadline for insurance coverage was Wednesday.
Mask and other farmers can file for what's called prevented planting. If growers are unable to plant because of insurable causes like excessive rain by the end of the late planting period, they may be eligible for prevented planting insurance coverage, which is a partial payment of the insured value of the crop.
For soybeans, the final planting date in Mississippi is typically around June 20, with a late planting period extending for 25 days after that. During this late planting period, planting is still allowed, but the insurance guarantee decreases by 1% per day.
The insurance is based on a farmer's APH — Average Production History. The higher the APH, the better the coverage. But that's relatively speaking, because the farmer doesn't get paid the full value.
"So if you have a 30 bushel APH, they'll adjust that down to a 65% coverage level, and you'll get paid 65% of those 30 bushels," Mask said.
For Mask, prevented planting insurance would pay about $150 per acre, just enough to cover the rent and the fertilizer. But the equipment costs, fuel costs and other input costs aren't covered. And neither are the farm workers.
And Mask has a $750,000 line of credit with his bank, with little to no income coming from this year's harvest.
"We have to figure out how to pay that somehow," he said. "With a third of our crop not planted, another third severely late and another third that needs to be replanted that we don't know we have a chance to replant ... it's scary."
Hussey also said crop insurance doesn't cover enough of the farmers' expenses like the input costs, which are the operating costs for a farm such as fertilizer, pesticides, seeds, fuel, labor and machinery.
"We spread lime last fall for the 2025 crop; we spread fertilizer, and we sprayed all the land to kill the vegetation on it to get it where you could work it easier," he said. "Well, some of it has been sprayed three times. You spray it, but you can never get back to it to do anything because of all the rain. The grass and weeds never stop growing. I just sprayed for the third time, and that's typically a one-shot deal ... that's just extra money going out."
Both Mask and Hussey said they hope more people understand the struggles farmers are facing. They said this season could be the last for many farms.
"Everybody needs to pray for the farmers. Ultimately, what we do keeps food cheap. If farmers do well, everybody does well," Hussey said. "Farmers contribute a whole lot to the economy. When farmers don't do well, your seed people, your fertilizer people, all the input people don't do well. Equipment dealers don't do well. It affects a large sector and a lot of people."
John Paul Brooks is owner of Brooks Custom Application in Houston; the company sprays and fertilizes 750,000 acres across North Mississippi and the Delta, stretching into parts of west Tennessee and Alabama.
"I'm running 32 machines this year," he said.
But he's only been able to service about 60% of the acreage, and he doubts he'll be able to get much more because many farmers have decided not to plant so late in the season.
That obviously affects the revenue stream at Brooks, which depends on growers to call them when their services are needed.
"I've had to lay people off already, and you're going to see more across the ag industry starting in July," he said. "The fall doesn't look much better for us. I make 100% of my living off farmers, and if they don't get the ground planted and they have bad crops, they're not going to have the money to do what they normally do in the fall. I think it's going to have a ripple effect into next spring at this point. And with crop prices not doing good, it's just a perfect storm right now. It's going to be rough."
Earlier his week, Brooks only had 10 of his 32 machines working. On a good day when all the machines are going, he said the company could cover 15,000 to 20,000 acres a day.
In May, which is typically the biggest and busiest month, Brooks said he was only able to work about nine days.
"There just wasn't enough dry days to work this year, and it's just about too late now," he said. "Last year, we had drought and bad crop prices; this year, it's too wet. So it was a bad year for me last year. Farmers will have to cut back this year. It's a trickle down effect for me and other ag retailers. It's the parts houses, the equipment dealers ... when farmers aren't getting enough money, it affects the whole system.
"Now look at this year. People were already hurting coming in. Your farmers, me, everybody. You take a look at what's happening now, and it's going to be a death blow for some. I hope something on the federal level can be done to help the farmers. Because if there was ever a disaster, this is it."
A comprehensive farm bill could address many of the needs of farmers today, but Mask isn't holding out hope there will be any action from the halls of Washington, D.C.
The most recent farm bill, the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, was signed into law in December 2018. It was a five-year bill, and it was supposed to be renewed in 2023. It received a one-year extension until Sept. 30, 2024. Another extension was enacted, and the bill is currently operating under a one-year extension that expires in September.
"I think farmers are near the bottom of the priority list in this country, unfortunately," Mask said. "I don't know how we can bring more awareness to our situation. We need prayers."