The Dirt on the Black Dirt Region

Sunday, December 6, 2009

2009 Crop Worst in 13 Years

2009 Crop Worst in 13 Years
By Chris Pawelski
From the Florida Onion
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The 2008 growing season turned out to be one of the best since1996. Not only did the farmers in the black dirt see decent cropsbut we also saw prices, especially for onions, that were the best
we have seen in decades. Unfortunately, as good as 2008 was 2009 has proven to be probably the worst we have seen since 1996. That's saying a lot,considering the farmers in the black dirt have faced three "50 year" floods, an incredible drought, and extensive hailstorms over the past I4 growing seasons.
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What happened? We started with a terrific spring and by late May the onion crop, as well as the various greens, looked fantastic. Then came June and the 12 plus inches of rain. What compounded the damage caused by the volume of rain was the fact that there were virtually no decent drying days between rain events. It rained almost the entire month. The onion and greens crops suffered significant damage. July and August also had significant rains that essentially sealed the deal for the season. Onion stands were decimated. As mentioned, other
crops, including the various greens and lettuces grown for the various farmer's and green markets were also severely affected as well. The cold and excessively rainy weather was a body blow to this growing season.
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At the end of August the local staff for Senator Gillibrand and Rep. Hall toured the damage. Normally at that point in the season the majority of onions are still standing tall and vibrant green. What they saw was a valley where virtually the entire crop was down and brown. At the request of local growers Rep. Hall sent a letter to the Risk Management Agency, which oversees the federal crop insurance program, asking them to direct the insurance companies to adjust the
damaged crops per the grower's discretion.
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In early October I traveled to Washington, DC, and had a number of meetings with officials at the USDA as well as a number of offices on Capitol Hill, including Rep. Hall and staff as well as the staff of Sen. Gillibrand (who sits on the Senate Agriculture Committee), Sen. Schumer as well as Rep. Massa and Rep. Murphy (NY Congress persons that both sit on the House Agriculture
Committee). I took the message of how significant our damage was as well as the need to seriously reform the crop insurance program. Farmers in the black dirt can no longer continue to suffer these sorts of losses, with minimal or token assistance from the federal crop insurance program, and we can't survive selling our crop for prices we were paid in 1983. Hopefully we can hang on and survive this season.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Racoon

So, I go to pick the top box to put on the dumper and something reflects back at me. IT'S A RACCOON! Holy crap! I took the box outside, slowly put the forks in and lifted the box up. And out jumped a very large and fat raccoon.
You can't make this stuff up!
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- Chris Pawelski