by Lyle Adriano
Due to changes in federal farm programs implemented in 2014, farmers in South Carolina will not receive payment for lost crops from the government, but can now seek recompense if they purchased private insurance to cover damages to their properties and crops. Estimates are that farmers will experience at least $300 million in losses from recent flooding in the state.
South Carolina Agriculture Commissioner Hugh Weathers discussed the changes with farmers at a field day at Clemson University Edisto Research and Education Center, highlighting how the changes will affect the way farmers handle damages. “We deal with risk mitigation through insurance now. Whole different ballgame,” he said.
The Department of Agriculture’s $300 million loss estimate is deemed conservative by Weathers. Some fields in South Carolina remain inundated with standing water, where conditions may get worse as time passes. Fields where the water has receded suffer from oversaturated and soft earth, which prevents harvesting equipment from working them. As the crops continue to sit in these flooded fields, their quality comes under attack from disease, insects, mold, and fungus.
Weathers highlighted that farmers will not know the extent of their losses until they assess how much of their crops they can salvage.
Until they can return to their fields and save what is left of their harvest, farmers who have insurance should get insurance adjusters to assess the damages in their properties, said Harry Ott, director of the Farm Service Agency for South Carolina.
Find out how much do insurance adjusters earn when you get one.
“Any direct money you are going to get is going to come through your crop insurance,” he said. “I hope everybody bought the max that they could buy. I know that’s not the case. I know some of us bought the least that we could buy.”
Ott noted that farmers with irrigation systems were unlikely to invest in insurance, as the systems were designed to protect the fields from drought.
Ott recommended several government programs that could help farmers with the damage to their properties and crops, such as the federal Emergency Conservation Program, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the Agricultural Risk Coverage or Price Loss Coverage programs.
