THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 16, 1996 TAG: 9607160304
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY GREG BURT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 62 lines
Hurricane Bertha sampled some of Hampton Roads' farm crops as it crept up the coast last weekend, but it seems the storm system had a healthier appetite for trees than sweet corn.
While homeowners spent the past few days picking up limbs that littered their yards, local farmers were surveying their stalks.
Douglas Munden of Virginia Beach said Monday that he lost about four of his 22 acres of silver queen sweet corn to the storm, amounting to an estimated $3,000 in gross income.
``The wind blew it pretty much flat in places,'' making it difficult to harvest, he said.
But Munden, who owns a 175-acre farm off Princess Anne Road, kept the loss in perspective. ``This is just part of farming,'' he said. ``I have never seen a perfect year.''
Munden's was one of several area farms that reported crop damage, but most farmers were thankful that Bertha passed them by.
The hurricane, which had been reduced to tropical storm status when it arrived Friday in Hampton Roads, caused minimal damage to corn crops in Chesapeake and Virginia Beach, said Robyn Carr, program assistant with the Chesapeake/-Virginia Beach Farm Service Agency.
``There was some localized sweet corn that was blown over due to high winds, and some farmers said there was some flooding, but that it would not be a lasting problem because the water would soon drain out of the fields,'' Carr said. ``We were very lucky not to have much damage at all.''
Todd Barnes, another Virginia Beach farmer, said the heavy rains had left 10 acres of soybeans underwater on his father's farm off Colechester Road.
He was hoping Monday that the crop could be salvaged before it rotted, but southwest winds that arrived with Bertha have yet to die down and are preventing his family's fields from draining.
The rain, however, was a blessing to other farmers.
Jim Lawson, deputy state statistician with the Virginia Department of Agriculture, said some counties in Virginia were helped by the rain, including Northampton County's corn crop. ``Overall, the damage wasn't as extensive as it could have been.''
Northeastern North Carolina farmers fared equally well. ``In the areas I've been in, we were very fortunate,'' said Al Wood, an agriculture agent in Currituck County.
Sweet corn, which is grown for human consumption, is more susceptible to storm damage because of its shallow root systems. It also generally is grown in smaller plots and planted farther apart than field corn, which is used for feed, sweeteners and in plastics.
Field corn makes up a larger percentage of the area corn crop, especially in western Tidewater and northeastern North Carolina.
But for those like Munden in Virginia Beach who specialize in the sweet variety, plenty of ears are still available for picking.
Munden, like many local farmers who grow sweet corn, operates a roadside stand.
He offers a discount to customers willing to pick the corn themselves, but warns that Bertha has made the chore a little tougher.
``For the time being,'' Munden said, ``you are going to have to bend down and look for it.'' MEMO: Staff writers Scott McCaskey and Linda McNatt contributed to this
report.
KEYWORDS: HURRICANE BERTHA AFTERMATH FARMERS by CNB