THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 9, 1994 TAG: 9411080106
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JODY R. SNIDER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT LENGTH: Long : 106 lines
BAD AND GOOD - farmers in the area are getting a little of both this year.
It's been another bad year for corn farmers, but cotton farmers are standing in tall cotton with up to three bales per acre, said Robert Goerger, Isle of Wight Extension Service agent.
``It was a miserable corn crop because of the dry weather in June,'' Goerger explained, ``but a darn good year for cotton. In fact, the cotton is doing better than expected. Almost everyone is getting two bales to the acre, and some folks are getting three bales.''
And more and more, the cotton crop is what most farmers are beginning to hang their hats on.
Low corn prices, coupled with low corn yields, have made it the kind of year most corn farmers would just as soon forget, said Rhett Owens, manager of Walters Grain and Supply in Windsor.
``Corn has been really spotty,'' Owens said. ``Some of the farmers had a decent crop of corn, but most are below average - about 50 bushels to the acre.''
Kevin Harding, statistician with the Virginia Agricultural Statistics Service in Richmond, said that state yields for corn averaged about 95 bushels per acre. But across the state yields varied.
``The higher yields were coming from the Valley,'' Harding said, ``more than 100 bushels to the acre, while the lower yields came from the Southeast - in the 60 to 70 bushel per acre range,'' he said.
But the problem with corn burning up in fields isn't new for area farmers. The droughts actually began about 10 years ago, Goerger said.
``There may not be any good reason for us to grow corn - period,'' Goerger said. ``Even though we need corn to feed hogs and cattle, you can buy the corn out of the Midwest cheaper than you can grow it here.''
In addition, Owens said, a drop in hog prices also has caused many area farmers to question planting another kernel of corn.
``Hog prices are low,'' Owens said, ``and that's why a lot of farmers were growing corn - to feed their hogs. As a result of the low prices, there are a lot of hog producers that are cutting back on the number of hogs they raise,'' he said.
``The future of corn is bleak,'' said Len Alphin, co-owner of Walters Grain and Supply and Commonwealth Gin, both of Windsor. ``And the reason is because you can take that same acreage, plant cotton and make a profit.''
In the last year, Alphin said about 35 to 40 percent of the corn acreage has been replaced by cotton. Seven years ago, corn acreage hit a high of 22,000 acres. This year, county acreage has dwindled to 14,000 acres.
``And next year,'' he said, ``we're expecting a lot more cotton. We should have a 10 to 20 percent drop in corn acreage next year because not as many people will be needing it as feed.''
This year, because of the decrease in corn yields and acreage, corn volume is down by 40 percent, said Alphin.
In anticipation of the lower volume, Alphin said his family closed one buying station in Walters run by Walters Grain and Supply. Today, the 400 farmers that sell their grain to the Alphins come to the company's Windsor location, where all the grain is loaded onto railroad cars and shipped to various destinations.
In addition to buying corn, Alphin said wheat and soybeans are also bought.
``The wheat acreage is up and it should increase by about 10 percent next year,'' Alphin said.
He said that because most wheat and soybean farmers can get better prices if they sell their crop at future prices, before the actual harvest, he expects many farmers could be storing much of this year's wheat and bean crop.
``During production, because the market becomes flooded with the crop, prices drop,'' he explained. ``It's better to forward sell at a profit than to wait until harvest and take a lower price.''
Because this year's wheat prices have been good, Goerger said he also expects wheat acreage to climb 15 to 20 percent in the county. Currently there are about 8,000 acres of wheat in Isle of Wight.
Goerger also said he wouldn't be surprised to see next year's cotton acreage double in the county - from the current 5,500 acres to 11,000 acres.
``It looks like we might make a tremendous shift from corn to cotton,'' he said. ``And that will continue now that we have the gins in the area.
``Farmers now know how to grow cotton. That's not to say there's not more to learn. But, it's no longer the unknown crop,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Color on the cover: Low prices and low yields for corn are pushing
Isle of Wight farmers toward cotton as a main crop.
Mill worker Richard Douglas weighs his truck loaded with soybeans at
Walters Grain and Supply.
Feed bags of corn are sewn up by Floyd Jones, left, while Sedric
Lowe loads another bag.
Jane Alphin, above, keeps track of grain prices at Walters Grain and
Supply.
``There may not be any good reason for us to grow corn - period,''
said Robert Goerger, an Isle of Wight farm agent. ``Even though we
need corn to feed hogs and cattle, you can buy the corn out of the
Midwest cheaper than you can grow it here.''
Wheat planting cycles are charted by computer at Walters Grain and
Supply. ``The wheat acreage is up and it should increase by about
10 percent next year,'' Lee Alphin said.
by CNB