Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black: Hurricane Michael Destroyed Farms, Lives

Caption

Thousands of cotton growers in southwest and south central Georgia lost their cotton crops in Hurricane Michael.

President Donald Trump was in Georgia Monday to survey the damage from Hurricane Michael. The storm killed at least 19 people. Michael also ravaged Georgia's agriculture industry, splitting decades- and even centuries-old pecan trees down the middle and stripping cotton plants across thousands of acres in south Georgia. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administrator Brock Long said Monday the true cost of the devastation won't be clear for some time.

"We lead the nation in pecan production, peanut production, forest products production ... in cotton and vegatables, but, unfortunately, today, we lead in destruction," Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black told "On Second Thought." "On Second Thought" host Virginia Prescott speaks with Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, pecan grower Randy Hudson, cotton grower Mark Peele, Andy Lucas of the Georgia Farm Bureau and GPB's own Ross Terrell.

Black joined "On Second Thought" with more on the relief effort. 

Caption

Some farmers hope wind and sunshine can fluff out what survived of their cotton crops. / Wikimedia Commons

Caption

One year after Hurricane Irma hurt Georgia pecan orchards, Hurricane Michael downed thousands of generations-old pecan trees.