By: Erin Smith
Bladen County farmers were beginning the process of assessing the damage to crops and tallying up the losses on Tuesday following Hurricane Matthew.
Clarkton peanut farmer Dan Ward said that he has not been able to get into fields yet to assess the damages. He said his employees have been busy cleaning up fallen trees, repairing roads into fields and in some cases repairing erosion damage along the edges of fields.
When asked to what extent his damages totaled, Ward said, “Time will tell. We are still on generator power at the house. The farm shop still has no power.”
Ward added, “We are hoping to get back into the field by the end of week. We would expect some crop loss with this.”
He said on Tuesday that he has spoken with a crop loss inspector and was asked to give an estimate.
Ward said that he estimated the peanut crop county-wide was about 40 percent dug and possibly 24 percent harvested prior to Hurricane Matthew. Ward estimated that 59 percent of the crop county-wide had not been touched prior to the storm.
“We were further ahead than that,” said Ward.
He estimated that his peanut crop was probably 70 percent dug and 30 percent harvested. Ward said the hidden cost of the storm recovery for farmers will be what can’t be seen right now.
Joyce Walters of Bladenboro said the Walters Family Farm has a field near Tar Heel that they have not been able to access as of Tuesday.
“We are going to try to go this afternoon (Tuesday) and look at it,” said Walters.
She said near her farm in Bladenboro some roads are still flooded and some roads were washed out on Tuesday.
“We still haven’t been able to get to the farm,” said Walters.
She said they had harvested the majority of the corn crop before Hurricane Matthew struck.
Walters said she was hoping for the best when they go to look at the field near Tar Heel.
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