Farmers Could Lose Jobs in 2010 After Fall Weather

Farmers in Rankin County are harvesting what's left of a mostly rotten soybean field.

8 Mississippi Counties have been declared federal disaster areas. And as MPB Carl Gibson reports, this fall's heavy rain could put some farmers out of business next year.

A combine is harvesting the remains of a soybean field, nearly ruined by 14 inches of October rain. Federal officials are currently looking at state crop yields to see if farmers will qualify for disaster relief. But at this point, the money could be too little too late, according to Mississippi State Extension Agent Jerry Singleton.

"Typically those programs take 12 months or longer before we start seeing any financial aid or low-interest loans. So if it takes that long after this year's situation, I'm afraid there are gonna be some guys already forced into the decision that they cannot farm for next year."

Thousands of acres of soybeans, corn and cotton are grown by Jim Thomas of Greenwood. He says one month of severe rain has rotted an entire year's worth of effort.

"Cooton yields are about half of what they normally are. Some of my beans have been so damaged that they're just not...almost nobody'll buy 'em. And some of 'em may be good, you know, but we've had a great deal of damage. We're just hoping we can get some disaster relief out of Washington."

Singleton says after the crop's original projections, this fall's soybean harvest is an especially bitter pill to swallow.

"I thought by just looking at the bean crops around the first of September that we had the potential to break the all-time record high yields. Now we're going to have disasters on our hands yield-wise and quality-wise, too."

After a 44-percent yield shortage, the state's soybean farmers are expected to lose 307 million dollars this year.