THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 25, 1995 TAG: 9508250649
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KERRY DOUGHERTY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 110 lines
Hugh Epps is normally a polite guy, but last week he found himself screaming at Dr. Duane Harding on television.
The rain-starved Surry County peanut farmer could be excused for his outburst. Epps was on the verge of losing his biggest cash crop to drought when the smiling television meteorologist reported that, instead of stalling over Hampton Roads and dumping rain for three days, Hurricane Felix was harmlessly blowing out to sea.
``I kept saying `Oh, no, he's wrong, he's got to be wrong','' recalled Epps. ``But, unfortunately, Doctor Duane was right.
``I think farmers were the only ones praying that the hurricane was going to hit. Not with big winds or anything - we didn't wish the people in Virginia Beach a lot of damage - but with lots and lots of rain.''
Epps, who has been farming since 1973, said 1995 is one of the worst years he has seen - ever - for peanuts. An August drought, like the one dehydrating Hampton Roads, stunts the growth of peanut plants at a crucial time.
Last year, Epps harvested about 3,800 pounds of peanuts per acre. This year, he is hoping for 2,000 pounds per acre but said some more pessimistic planters are figuring on 500 pounds.
After a wet June, rain in Southeastern Virginia slowed to a drip. Rainfall levels at Norfolk International Airport were down almost two inches in July, from a normal of 4.15 inches to 2.18. So far, August is worse, with levels off by more than four inches. The normal August rainfall is 5.33 inches, but by Aug. 18 a scant 1.23 inches had fallen at the airport.
While the shortage of rain is damaging some crops, it has not created a drinking-water crisis.
The reservoirs owned by Norfolk and Portsmouth, the region's major water sources, are nearly at identical levels, about 76 percent of capacity.
``That's almost 10 percent below normal for today's date, historically,'' said Louis Guy, Norfolk's utilities director. ``We're not at a level that we are seriously concerned, but we are at a level where we're watching very closely.''
Jim Spacek, Portsmouth's utilities director, said he is concerned because the National Weather Service is predicting below-normal rainfall through September.
That could be the death knell for peanuts.
Peanuts are planted in early spring. During the summer they put down a thick tap root and in late summer the plants ``peg'' - they sprout runners from the tap root and begin growing peanuts.
No rain in August means puny runners and a small peanut crop. And Virginia peanuts are about an $80 million-a-year business.
``Peanuts are the most critical right now,'' said Kevin Harding, an agricultural statistician with the Virginia Agricultural Statistics Service in Richmond. The service is part of the United States Department of Agriculture.
``Cotton, soybeans and a lot of other crops and livestock are stressed from the lack of rain and the intense heat,'' Harding said. ``But they can recover. Now peanuts, they're the hardest hit.''
Virginia's corn crop has fared nicely for the most part, getting lots of rain shortly after planting, when the moisture is needed most.
``We've got a decent-looking corn crop out there,'' Harding said. ``Wish I could say the same for peanuts.''
Instead of leafy green plants, most peanut fields are full of parchment-like plants. They have literally burned up in the sun.
``In my opinion, it's too late,'' Epps says. ``But other farmers will tell you if we get a good rainfall in the next week or so we can save most of the crop.''
Like most growers, Epps doesn't depend on peanuts alone. He plants 120 acres of peanuts, 100 acres of cotton, 250 of corn and 250 of wheat followed by late soybeans. He farms with his brother, Billy, and nephew, Wayne, who manage the family's dairy cows.
Livestock is affected more by intense heat than drought, farmers say. But with a long heat wave like the one this summer, dairy cows reduced their milk production.
Another byproduct of the summer heat is skinny chickens.
At Tyson Foods in Temperanceville on the Eastern Shore, where 1 million birds a week are slaughtered, the carcasses are smaller than the chickens raised during cooler months.
``Chickens grow up in 49 days,'' said Carl Cold, complex manager at Tyson. ``Your average bird is about 5 pounds alive but, when it's hot, the birds don't like to eat and we wind up with birds weighing about 4.7 pounds.
``Sometimes we let them go a few more days, trying to fatten them up.''
In Surry County, Epps said that ever time a harvest looks grim he and his wife - a Surry High School art teacher - ask themselves why they stay in farming.
``The answer's always the same,'' he said. ``It's the lifestyle. If I quit farming, I'd have to get a job. I love farming so much I don't consider it work.'' MEMO: Staff writer Tony Wharton contributed to this report.
ILLUSTRATION: LACK OF RAINFALL
Rainfall, in inches, at the National Weather Service office at
Norfolk International Airport.
Recorded Average Difference
1995 rainfall rainfall
May
2.36 3.75 -1.39
June
4.66 3.45 +1.21
July
2.18 5.15 -2.97
August (through the 18th)
1.23 3.78 -2.55
1995 (through Aug. 18)
20.87 30.48 -9.61
Average rainfall for all of August is 5.33 inches.
by CNB