Farmers Race to Harvest Crops Before Isaac Hits Arkansas
By: Adam Rodriguez
Updated: September 13, 2012
Arkansas farmers are burning the midnight oil, trying to harvest crops before Isaac hits with 10 inches of rain.
Rice farmers in particular are concerned. Many tell the Cooperative Extension Service, if they don't get their crops out before the rain, it's lost.
So there isn't a lot of time at farms around state, like Cicero Farms in Lonoke County. Crews have been harvesting rice nearly non-stop all week.
"That combine, we don't like for it to stop," said worker Colby Doles. "We don't like for it to stop at all. It runs non-stop."
So Doles and others are slicing, threshing and hauling rice to silos for safe keeping, with no intention of stopping in the near future.
"We'll cut all day today and all night tonight, before it hits us," Doles said.
The extension says the same scene is played out on farms across the state, with trucks lining up to get their soy beans, corn, sorgum and rice into elevators- particularly in agricultural communities like Hazen and Des Arc.
Lonoke County Extension Agent Keith Perkins says one of the biggest problems farmers face is they don't have anywhere to put their grain. Trucks are getting backed up at bins, mills, dryers and elevators. Perkins says farmers don't plant the whole county in one week, and can't expect to harvest it all in one day.
But they may have to. The extension says high winds and heavy rains can flatten crops, or cause grain heads to sprout or get moldy.
The only thing too thick to cut is the irony. After working all summer to keep crops hydrated in blistering, dry weather, a heavy dousing of rain is threatening to drown it all.
So how long are workers willing to stay at it?
"As long as we can, we'll go," Doles said. "Unless it gets too bad."
Wednesday afternoon projections by KARK 4 News Chief Meteorologist Keith Monahan show Isaac rolling nearly right down the middle of the Natural State, hitting southern communities late Friday morning, and Little Rock by the late afternoon.
Rice farmers in particular are concerned. Many tell the Cooperative Extension Service, if they don't get their crops out before the rain, it's lost.
So there isn't a lot of time at farms around state, like Cicero Farms in Lonoke County. Crews have been harvesting rice nearly non-stop all week.
"That combine, we don't like for it to stop," said worker Colby Doles. "We don't like for it to stop at all. It runs non-stop."
So Doles and others are slicing, threshing and hauling rice to silos for safe keeping, with no intention of stopping in the near future.
"We'll cut all day today and all night tonight, before it hits us," Doles said.
The extension says the same scene is played out on farms across the state, with trucks lining up to get their soy beans, corn, sorgum and rice into elevators- particularly in agricultural communities like Hazen and Des Arc.
Lonoke County Extension Agent Keith Perkins says one of the biggest problems farmers face is they don't have anywhere to put their grain. Trucks are getting backed up at bins, mills, dryers and elevators. Perkins says farmers don't plant the whole county in one week, and can't expect to harvest it all in one day.
But they may have to. The extension says high winds and heavy rains can flatten crops, or cause grain heads to sprout or get moldy.
The only thing too thick to cut is the irony. After working all summer to keep crops hydrated in blistering, dry weather, a heavy dousing of rain is threatening to drown it all.
So how long are workers willing to stay at it?
"As long as we can, we'll go," Doles said. "Unless it gets too bad."
Wednesday afternoon projections by KARK 4 News Chief Meteorologist Keith Monahan show Isaac rolling nearly right down the middle of the Natural State, hitting southern communities late Friday morning, and Little Rock by the late afternoon.
