SPRINGFIELD, Tenn. – Somewhere in the middle of her father’s 1,200-acre farm, out in the heat and covered in dirt, Ashley Pearson hacked at a tobacco plant.
It was still green, but about a half-foot shorter than it should be.
The parched crop was burning in the sun, so Ashley spent the weekend cutting it early to help her family salvage profits.
She should’ve been in Bowling Green, buying books, preparing to start her sophomore year on Monday.
But two months of drought caused tobacco to take precedence.
Dark-fired tobacco is the lifeblood of the Pearson family’s farm in Springfield, bringing in the most money of the crops that feed Ashley’s family and pay her tuition.
Many other students in the agriculture department spent the weekend helping on their families’ farms, also hoping to glean what profits they could out of the worst drought in decades.
The amount of money lost in Tennessee and Kentucky is difficult to estimate. Prices and demand are rising for some of the hardest hit crops.
Lucky showers, such as the storm last night and those forecasted for this weekend, could offer some help.
But yields of every crop will be significantly lower, say experts on agriculture in the region.
The amount of hay and corn cultivated in Kentucky is expected to be halved because of the drought, said Joanna Coles, an agent for Warren County Agricultural Extension, an informational resource for farmers.
Kentucky also expects to lose about 30 percent of tobacco to the drought and 80 percent of wheat, lost mainly to a late April frost. Figures in Tennessee are about the same.
“Unfortunately there’s nothing farmers can do,” Coles said Tuesday. “I’m sure if they could do a rain dance, they would.”
Farmers are left with few options: they can borrow money, hope to grow more crops next year or rely on reserve money if they have it. Many farmers have insurance, but the level of coverage depends on a farmer’s plan and usually won’t cover all losses.
There are government subsidies, but those usually only come in times of more sudden disasters such as tornados or hailstorms and are usually low-interest loans.
In Warren County, agriculture is a $72 million-a-year business, one that will suffer a loss of “millions and millions,” Coles said. That kind of money has a huge impact on the community.
By Saturday, the Pearson family farm- owned by Ashley’s father, Bennie Pearson, and her uncle John-stood to lose up to $80,000 in profits from tobacco and other damaged crops in 2007.
In more than 25 years of farming, Bennie Pearson never lost a crop entirely. This year, he’s lost 160 acres of wheat to a late April frost, and suffered significant losses to every other crop.
Ashley and her sister, Aimee, each have about an acre-and-a-half of tobacco that earns them about $5,000 a piece for the year. It could be up to about $1,000 less this year.
Expenses such as Ashley’s tuition won’t be affected, at least not immediately, he said.
Still, Ashley Pearson said she will take off school to work on the farm if things don’t improve.
She tries not to worry about the money.
“We don’t think we are going to be poor by any means, but it’s been hard,” Ashley Pearson said.
Specifically, the desolation of her home.
“It breaks my heart to see it,” she said, looking wistfully at a field full of soy bean crops. They were about a foot high, instead of a healthy knee-length high.
The Pearsons have owned their farm for as long as they can remember, which, as they figure, is at least four generations.
Normally a verdant country home, the farm’s grass was brown and dead Saturday. It crunched under the Pearsons’ feet. Corn was withered and brittle and ponds were dry.
Ashley’s mom, Judy Pearson, had planted trees for each of her four babies. Two of those trees had died.
The land was so dry that a neighbor lost an entire field to a fire caused by a sparking tractor. Another neighbor lost a barn.
Fire hazards because of dryness are a problem throughout much of Tennessee, according to the United States Department of Agriculture Web site.
The only drought of similar severity was in 1952, recounts J.L. Pearson, Ashley’s grandfather.
A severe drought in 1983 also tested Warren County farmers, putting some out of business, Coles said. But that was not compounded with the high temperatures of this summer, that were at times 11 degrees higher than what’s typical for the season.
“It’s really affected every agricultural crop you can think of,” Coles said.
The wheat lost in Kentucky and Tennessee ruined much of a hay supply that would be needed to feed cattle during the drought.
The Kentucky-Tennessee Livestock Market in Guthrie has bought and sold about 32,000 cattle since June, co-owner Tom Patterson said. That’s nearly double the average for this time of year. Farmers are selling their cattle because they can’t feed them and conserve hay for the winter.
Senior Zach King’s family in Portland, Tenn. sold about 25 calves, or about 20 percent of their cattle, for that reason.
King said he didn’t know the toll the drought would take on their income, but it would probably be in the tens of thousands.
“We’re already struggling,” King said. “If it happened again, we’d have no pastures.
“We’d have to farm something else. I don’t know what.”
King worked between 20 and 30 hours on his family’s farm this week, putting out cornstalks, water and hay for cattle because pastures were dry.
Hay is expensive and normally isn’t fed to cattle until late October.
The Pearsons are in a similar fix, having to feed cattle hay out of season because pastures are dry.
For more than 15 years, Bennie Pearson had crop insurance to help in times like this. He canceled his policy last year because he had never used it and premiums were high.
For months the family waited for rain and tried to contain their frustration.
Judy Pearson banned The Weather Channel, because they’d get their hopes up over 20 percent chances of rain.
Scattered rain in Tennessee and Kentucky in the last few weeks wasn’t much help anyway, as record-high temperatures evaporated most moisture.
Not that the Pearsons saw any.
Instead, they resigned themselves to patience and looked to God for help.
“Me and Mama have come to the conclusion that this is just God testing our faith, and we have to trust he’ll take care of us,” Ashley said Saturday.
They prayed for rain at church and before meals.
Last night, they got their rain. About 2.3 inches. So much that Bennie Pearson worried his tractor might end up in the river.
Bennie Pearson laughed as it rained.
“Cats and dogs,” he said chuckling on the phone.
Hope arose for soy bean and alfalfa crops and the pastures, which would save money on hay.
“That rain may make $15,000,” he said.
Losses on corn and tobacco remained, as did plenty of work ahead.
The Pearsons cut the last of their tobacco Monday. Then, Bennie Pearson started shelling corn, almost a month ahead of schedule, because the crop was so dry.
He guessed he would lose about half of that crop and be lucky to break even. They still have to cure the tobacco. With more rain and cooler weather, he’ll be salvaging more crops.
The losses are heavy, but won’t cripple the farm, Bennie Pearson said.
“It means we’re going to have to make do,” he said. “And look forward to next year.”
Reach Corey Paul at corey.paul@wku.edu.
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