Tropical Storm Hermine Hurts Georgia Agriculture

Caption

A split pecan tree after Tropical Storm Fay

After heavy rain and strong winds toppled trees across the state late last week, the impact of Hermine continues to affect Georgians. 

According to agriculture experts at UGA, the storm was a positive force in some regions. Portions of Georgia are among the driest in the region - as of June 28, severe and extreme drought covered nearly 25 percent of the state according to the Southeast Regional Climate Center. 

The much-needed rain was a boon to farmers in drought-stricken southwest Georgia counties, one of the state’s driest regions. But while some of Georgia’s agricultural businesses were helped by the storm, many were also hurt. 

Georgia’s pecan farmers were hit particularly hard by the storm. Some report losing more than a third of their crop. Thomas Mason, a pecan farmer in the Macon area and the chairman of the Georgia Pecan Commission, said, “Some farmers lost over a thousand trees… and we don’t know what it’s going to mean for the overall Georgia crop yet. But it did have a pretty major effect on the south part of Georgia.” 

An expert at UGA says growers in the worst-hit regions report broken and toppled trees - some with “approximately 30 percent of the nuts blown or shaken off the tree by the winds.”

Georgia usually supplies an average yearly pecan harvest of 88 million pounds, about a third of the nation’s crop. The full economic impact on this year’s pecan harvest is still being determined. 

In a statement, Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary W. Black said, “It is still too early to know the full impact Hermine had on our Georgia farmers. We are still assessing the damage, but at this juncture it seems that in general we dodged a bullet, with our pecan growers bearing the brunt of it all. Pecans will probably see a double-digit loss -  we just don’t know if that first digit is a one, a two or a three. At this time, we just don’t know.”

Early estimates from the Department of Agriculture say the impact on Georgia’s GDP will be in the tens of millions of dollars.