Stroke of bad luck

State Agriculture commissioner Ron Sparks met with northwest Alabama farmers Monday to get a better handle on the extent of the damage caused by an unexpected freeze during Easter weekend.

Several area farmers met with Sparks and others at the Northwest Alabama Regional Airport on Monday morning and later at Glenn Acres Farm in Hillsboro.

It appears that the hardest hit crops were wheat and corn.

"We are trying to get all the information we can from our farmers so we can help them," Sparks said after talking with farmers in Muscle Shoals.

A hard freeze destroyed most of the wheat crop in the area and damaged a large portion of the corn. Sparks said fruit crops in eastern and southern Alabama also were hit hard.

Colbert County farmer L.O. Bishop said that he's never seen a freeze damage so many crops. He has been farming for 54 years.

"I've never witnessed anything like this," he said.

Paul Mask, a grains specialist with Auburn University, told farmers in Lawrence County that the freeze came at the worst possible time as wheat seeds were developing.

"The wheat crop, in general, is something we need to get on past," Mask said, as he discussed the irreparable damage done by the freeze.

Noble Holland, of Leighton, said he lost 600 acres of wheat during the frigid weather, which dropped into the 20s on consecutive nights April 7-9.

"It's a 100 percent loss," Holland said. "I don't know what I am going to do with it."

State officials told farmers not to replant the crops or bail the wheat as hay before having it tested. They said it could be deadly to cattle.

While most of the wheat across north Alabama appears to be lost, a good portion of the corn crop could actually have survived because of the severe drought in the weeks before the freeze.

Lawrence County extension agent Heath Potter said the corn crops that were still low or were planted late were able to survive.

"The drought may have actually helped it," Potter said.

An extension office survey taken earlier in the year showed a 30 percent decline in the amount of cotton being planted this year, while the amount of corn being planted almost doubled.

"About 100,000 acres of cotton went into corn and then we have one of the coldest snaps we've ever had," Sparks told the farmers. "We have had a stroke of bad luck that was unfortunate and we need to get assistance to you."

The information being gathered by Sparks' office will be shared with congressional representatives in Washington.

Sparks said he is trying to get any kind of disaster relief he can for the state.

Meanwhile, farmers are looking to salvage what they can.

"This is the worse loss I've ever had," said Ray McIntyre, who planted 425 acres of wheat and 570 acres of corn on his farm in Oakland. "I planted some of my corn late and it looks all right, but the wheat is in pretty bad shape."

Holland said there isn't much he can do right now except wait and see if he can get some federal aid.

"It's a pitiful situation," he said.

Jonathan Willis can be reached at 332-0140 or jonathan.willis@timesdaily.com.