By Bob Montgomery
Hit hard by the state's longest drought in history, South Carolina's farmers are facing a "critical situation" and need federal disaster relief to cover losses not addressed by agriculture department programs, the state's two U.S. senators said.
Meanwhile, long-range forecasters say no quenching rain is in sight, barring a tropical storm or hurricane.
The Southeast is locked in a dry pattern that's expected to last until December, state climatologist Milt Brown said Friday.
Farmers already have suffered devastating corn and hay crops, and now streams are beginning to dry up, said Alta Rathwell, executive director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Greenville-Pickens farm service district. One Upstate farmer, Carmon Looper, 78, who has been raising livestock on his 220-acre farm in Dacusville in Pickens County since the early 1940s, said he's never seen his streams and springs dry up -- until now.
"I didn't think I'd live to see where I got more feed than water," said Looper, adding that a small pond that supplies water for the cattle has been reduced to a mud pit that dries into cracked, brown cakes under the relentless August sun.
Sens. Ernest F. Hollings, D-S.C., and Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., asked the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry to provide more than $2 billion in grants nationwide to farmers. Officials estimate nearly half the country is experiencing a drought.
The grants being requested are in addition to the low-interest loans approved by the Agriculture Department in March for losses in 2001. The USDA is considering loans to cover losses since March. Another USDA grant already has been approved for farmers whose wells or streams have gone dry, but the amount hasn't been determined.
"South Carolina is experiencing the worst drought in 100 years," Hollings and Thurmond wrote to Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Indiana, of the agriculture committee. "Indications are that the drought will get worse. After five years of drought, the last thing our farmers need is another loan to repay."
Crops hit especially hard have been cotton, soybeans and wheat, the senators said. "The corn crop is a total loss. Our fruit and vegetable production, including our state's valuable peach crop, has been especially hit hard," they wrote.
Hollings and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass, are seeking to make farm-related businesses eligible for emergency funds from the Small Business Administration.
Some have likened this drought to 1986, when hay was airlifted and brought in by train from the Midwest to help South Carolina farmers.
But that drought was not nearly as long, said Pelzer dairy farmer Tom Trantham, who helped spearhead Farm Aid assistance that year through network television appearances.
"We've never witnessed a continuous period like the fifth year of a drought," said hydrologist Bud Bader of the state Department of Natural Resources. "We are even seeing deep wells declining, too."
Cattle farmer Gene Cornett of Greenville said farmers who run out of hay and water may have to sell their livestock at a loss. Low-interest loans, available through the USDA, simply aren't enough, he said.
"There's not much to be upbeat about now," Cornett said.
Ken Rentiers, executive director of the state Farm Service Agency, said his agency is helping farmers who use irrigation to drill new wells.
"I've traveled in just about every county in the state," Rentiers said. "It's just about the same. The overall picture is pretty grim."
But he said, "I do sense an urgency. And I think Congress senses that too. Help is on the way."
Trantham said farmers are hoping that weather forecasters will be proven wrong.
"You're dealing with optimistic people," he said. "Farmers have to be optimistic, or they wouldn't be farmers."
Bob Montgomery covers the environment and can be reached at 298-4295.
Once a watering hole: Carmon Looper stands next to a muddy area where his cattle used to drink from a spring-fed stream on his Dacusville farm on Friday.
Hit hard by the state's longest drought in history, South Carolina's farmers are facing a "critical situation" and need federal disaster relief to cover losses not addressed by agriculture department programs, the state's two U.S. senators said.
Meanwhile, long-range forecasters say no quenching rain is in sight, barring a tropical storm or hurricane.
The Southeast is locked in a dry pattern that's expected to last until December, state climatologist Milt Brown said Friday.
Farmers already have suffered devastating corn and hay crops, and now streams are beginning to dry up, said Alta Rathwell, executive director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Greenville-Pickens farm service district. One Upstate farmer, Carmon Looper, 78, who has been raising livestock on his 220-acre farm in Dacusville in Pickens County since the early 1940s, said he's never seen his streams and springs dry up -- until now.
"I didn't think I'd live to see where I got more feed than water," said Looper, adding that a small pond that supplies water for the cattle has been reduced to a mud pit that dries into cracked, brown cakes under the relentless August sun.
Sens. Ernest F. Hollings, D-S.C., and Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., asked the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry to provide more than $2 billion in grants nationwide to farmers. Officials estimate nearly half the country is experiencing a drought.
The grants being requested are in addition to the low-interest loans approved by the Agriculture Department in March for losses in 2001. The USDA is considering loans to cover losses since March. Another USDA grant already has been approved for farmers whose wells or streams have gone dry, but the amount hasn't been determined.
"South Carolina is experiencing the worst drought in 100 years," Hollings and Thurmond wrote to Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Indiana, of the agriculture committee. "Indications are that the drought will get worse. After five years of drought, the last thing our farmers need is another loan to repay."
Crops hit especially hard have been cotton, soybeans and wheat, the senators said. "The corn crop is a total loss. Our fruit and vegetable production, including our state's valuable peach crop, has been especially hit hard," they wrote.
Hollings and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass, are seeking to make farm-related businesses eligible for emergency funds from the Small Business Administration.
Some have likened this drought to 1986, when hay was airlifted and brought in by train from the Midwest to help South Carolina farmers.
But that drought was not nearly as long, said Pelzer dairy farmer Tom Trantham, who helped spearhead Farm Aid assistance that year through network television appearances.
"We've never witnessed a continuous period like the fifth year of a drought," said hydrologist Bud Bader of the state Department of Natural Resources. "We are even seeing deep wells declining, too."
Cattle farmer Gene Cornett of Greenville said farmers who run out of hay and water may have to sell their livestock at a loss. Low-interest loans, available through the USDA, simply aren't enough, he said.
"There's not much to be upbeat about now," Cornett said.
Ken Rentiers, executive director of the state Farm Service Agency, said his agency is helping farmers who use irrigation to drill new wells.
"I've traveled in just about every county in the state," Rentiers said. "It's just about the same. The overall picture is pretty grim."
But he said, "I do sense an urgency. And I think Congress senses that too. Help is on the way."
Trantham said farmers are hoping that weather forecasters will be proven wrong.
"You're dealing with optimistic people," he said. "Farmers have to be optimistic, or they wouldn't be farmers."
Bob Montgomery covers the environment and can be reached at 298-4295.
Once a watering hole: Carmon Looper stands next to a muddy area where his cattle used to drink from a spring-fed stream on his Dacusville farm on Friday.
