Tag Archives: Hurricane Helene damage

Pecan Growers Rebuild After Hurricane Helene as Signs of Recovery Begin to Emerge

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Keysville, GA |

Eight months after Hurricane Helene tore through southeast Georgia, pecan growers are still grappling with the storm’s devastating impact—an event now considered more destructive to the state’s pecan industry than even Hurricane Michael. Heavy rains and powerful winds flattened orchards, toppled mature trees, and left producers reeling just weeks before harvest.

“You had virtually seventy-five percent crop loss in the counties the hurricane hit,” says Andrew Sawyer, Area Pecan Agent with UGA. “But the biggest, hardest thing was the tree loss. Almost 400,000 trees were down. And then you have the future income loss. The total impact will easily surpass Hurricane Michael, and when Michael happened, we didn’t think we’d see anything worse than that.”

For growers, losing a tree means far more than losing a single harvest. It means starting over—and waiting more than a decade to regain profitability.

“It’s one thing to lose the crop and say, ‘Well, we’ll try again next year,’” Sawyer explains. “But when you lose the tree, you lose the crop with it—and future production. Pecan trees take seven to eight years before they begin producing again. But to make your money back, due to planting costs, it’s really more like fifteen years.”

Months later, cleanup efforts continue across the region. While some growers are making progress, others—particularly those in the hardest hit zones—are still in the early stages.

“For some, it’s been very slow,” says Sawyer. “There are still trees on the ground that haven’t even been cleaned up. But in places where the tree loss was maybe thirty to forty percent, they’ve at least been able to clear out the debris, and the remaining trees have a shot at producing this year. Replanting, for most, will begin next year.”

Amid all the challenges, there’s a glimmer of hope. Sawyer says that in some areas, even those hit hardest by the storm, surviving trees are showing signs of resilience—and production.

“Generally, after a big storm like that, you don’t expect a crop. So this has been a surprise,” he says. “Across East and Southeast Georgia, there’s actually a very decent crop on the remaining trees. Some of it is even in the hardest hit areas. In other regions it’s more spotty, but across several varieties I’ve looked at, there’s reason to be optimistic. And that wasn’t expected.”

By: John Holcomb

Georgia Farmers Face Tough Times: Low Prices, High Costs & Storm Damage in 2024

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Tifton, GA |

2024 was without a doubt a difficult year for Georgia farmers and producers as they faced low commodity prices, high operating costs, and devastating hurricanes – things experts say have left farmers struggling with historically low income.

“The real challenge at the beginning of the year was lower prices and crop prices in particular compared to livestock prices. They were falling rapidly from the 2022 highs, so the farm revenue or cash receipts was going to be down anyway. Then we were hit with natural disasters. Hurricane Helene in particular, that wiped out, in my estimation, about thirty-eight percent of the crop receipts, revenue receipts for Georgia agriculture. So the 2024 whole year, together with the price decline and the disaster has been a very, very challenging year. The net cash income for Georgia producers is probably going to be historically low,” says Gopi Munisamy, a Professor at the University of Georgia.

To make matters worse, Munisamy says that those challenges from 2024 will unfortunately carry over into this year, which will create more difficulties for producers, especially when it comes to working capital.

“The first thing is the low prices that I talked about at the beginning of 2024; they’re going to continue into 2025. The second thing is working capital that you need to operate your farm is down 6.9 percent nationally, but given that we lost a significant amount of revenue because of Hurricane Helene, our farmers are going to be even shorter on working capital. So for them to get their machines up and running, the infrastructure put in place, buy seeds, buy fertilizers, they’re going to be very challenged,” says Munisamy.

However, the livestock sector has had a different tale to tell, as last year, the cattle inventory remained low which kept prices high – a trend experts say will continue this year.

“We’re seeing those tight supplies continue, should continue through 2025. That’s going to support those higher prices again going forward into 2025. We’ve already seen that at the cow calf level, where we’re seeing prices up fifteen, twenty percent year over year again at the beginning of 2025,” says Will Secor, UGA Extension Livestock Economist.

For poultry, Secor believes the industry, as it typically does, will remain strong this year, but says there is some uncertainty as Avian Influenza continues to spread, which Secor says for now, has continued to only effect egg prices.

“Because of chicken’s lower price at the meat counter in grocery stores, we expect that the chicken demand is probably going to remain relatively strong. That being said, if we run into any HPAI issues that could hurt some of the production and might raise prices going forward. The biggest effects that we’re seeing right now is in eggs. Those prices have been up since about mid-November. Those have been up about forty percent, depending on where you are in the country. So those prices are going to be the biggest direct effect. Usually egg layers seem to be the most impacted by HPAI. We’re starting to see some more in commercial broiler production that could potentially have an impact in chicken prices, but right now we haven’t seen that in the data, at least to this point,” says Secor.

By: John Holcomb

Georgia Farmers Brace for 2025: Weather Challenges, Crop Shifts, and Survival Strategies

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Watkinsville, GA |

No matter how much time, money and effort farmers put into growing their crop, they are ultimately at the mercy of the weather. And in 2024, it provided more downs than ups, especially with Hurricane Helene causing more than six billion dollars’ worth of damage to Georgia’s agricultural industry. And even though another active storm season is forecast in 2025, growers shouldn’t be alarmed just yet.

“Just because it’s active doesn’t mean it’s going to have any impacts on Georgia because we don’t know where those storms are going to go. Some years they go to Texas. Some years they go more up the east coast. And this is a pretty unusual year that Georgia doesn’t often have two big storms that come over the state, especially the same part of the state in year. So, it’s not likely that we’re going to see another year like that next year even if it is active, there’s no guarantee they’re going to come over Georgia,” says Pam Knox, Director of the UGA Weather Network.

Another major problem most of the farmers in Georgia faced was record drought conditions in a number of counties around the state.

“If you took the tropical rain away, almost the entire state would have been below normal in precipitation, and in areas that didn’t get hit by the tropical storms, it was quite dry. We see drought expanding. And so, I know people in areas that did not get hit by the tropical storms were really frustrated because it was so dry that the crops were just not doing well,” says Knox.

If you thought it was a hotter than normal summer, you wouldn’t be wrong as temperatures were up across the board. And with La Nina officially here, it’s a pattern that will likely continue in the coming year. That could bring with it altered farming practices and different types of crops.

“There are a number of different things that farmers are doing, changing the way they manage their crops, changing the way they have workers work, looking at the livestock and making sure that they can handle those changes in temperature. They’re also introducing some new crops, things like satsumas and olives. And so, those are crops that are a little bit more tropical, they can handle warm temperatures. They like warm temperatures better,” says Knox.

Higher humidity is also in the forecast, which means growers should plan accordingly.

“Our humidity levels are going up and that causes some problems because it’s more likely we’ll see fungal diseases. And so, you might have to change the way you plant things so that there’s more ventilation through the canopy of different crops that you’re growing to help reduce the amount of fungal diseases, or you might have to change the kind of chemicals you use and how often you apply them,” says Knox.

As for the big piece of advice for farmers if it is in fact a hot, dry growing season.

“With drier conditions, whatever irrigation you can get is probably going to be a good thing. A lot of years you don’t really need that much irrigation. You may only need four inches, but you have to put it on at the right time. And so, even for smaller farmers, if you can use a way to use a farm pond or something like that, that can help to get your crops through the dry spell,” says Knox.

By: Damon Jones