Did the recent rains in SC help farmers struggling during the drought?

SAINT MATTHEWS, SC (WIS) — With drought conditions around the Palmetto State improving drastically in the wake of Debby last week, one local farmer said the recent rain has been a mixed bag for his crops.

This week, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Drought Response Committee downgraded drought designations to normal for 36 counties.

Last month, all 46 counties in the state had designations, and 15 were in drought.

• READ MORE: Federal help, emergency loans available to Midlands farmers amid drought conditions

One of these counties was Calhoun.

Chad Lyons, whose family has owned and operated a 2,300-acre farm in the county for more than a century, said the roughly 10 inches of rain that fell in the past week hasn’t been entirely beneficial.

“It’s going to be a difficult year and I think it’s going to be a difficult year for a lot of people, but we’ve been farming for over 100 years, hopefully we can continue,” he said.

Lyons works alongside his 72-year-old father, uncle and three employees.

His father, a 50-year-old farmer, said this summer reminded him of similar drought conditions in 1986.

“In 1986 it took out a lot of farmers,” Lyons said. “Fortunately, we’re out of the dry spell that they never did in the late ’80s.”

Lyons said it was “definitely better to have rain” than no rain, but it caused him to lose some of his cotton crop because it drowned.

The dry corn crop was also affected by the double whammy of drought and heavy rain from Debby.

It was already almost a total loss, but the rain made it worse, Lyons said.

He pointed out that the stems are so weak that in some cases they begin to fall.

While in other areas, rain is helping cotton, soybean and groundnut crops.

Lyons said right now his farm can’t get any more rainfall until the crops are out of the field.

The longer pools of water around crops, the more likely they are to die and drop their fruit, he said.

“Every time it rains, it adds more to that total,” Lyons said. “Whether you got eight inches or 20 inches from Debby, it just adds to that total and just makes it harder to get in the field and get that crop out.”

Lyons said he projects there will be some long-term effects from this tough growing season, with commodity prices lower than he’s ever seen.

“The drought is going to affect our yield, which obviously affects the end of it, affects how much money you make,” he said. “If you don’t have that much money this year for next year, that’s going to be a cost you have to look at. What will I be able to spend, what could I have to reduce?”

Lyons told me he won’t know the full extent of yield loss this season for all his crops until they finish harvesting in November.

He and his family were here harvesting corn on Thursday.

SCDNR also said the state has seen below-average fire threats in recent weeks.

The Drought Response Committee will monitor conditions closely and meet again on September 4.

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