Farmers Face Harvest Problems this season

Atmore Farmers Farmers are in the midst of harvest season. The harvest is taking longer this year for grain farmers who are running out of space to store their crops.

by Chad Petri

Published: Mon, September 03, 2007 - 4:02 am CST Last Updated: Mon, September 03, 2007 - 4:40 am CST

It’s harvest time in Alabama. Farmers are busy in their fields. Many are gathering the current “in” crop corn. Farmer Eric Hall says it’s a booming business.

“With corn prices due to ethanol that's going up significantly,” says Hall. “This area's probably increased five fold within the 50 mile radius around Atmore.” The problem is farmers are running out of places to put the corn while they wait for it to be sold and processed. Hurricane Ivan destroyed a grain elevator in Atmore. He says the harvest is taking a lot longer this season.

“We didn't have but 300 acres of corn, should of took us four days to harvest this is the third week we've been working on trying to get the corn out,” says Eric Hall. Hall says he’s not sure farmers want to commit to making the infrastructure necessary to support an increased corn crop. He says the most profitable crops change with market conditions.

“If we can start seeing where the prices are going to be good,” says Hall. “People will come in and invest to put the infrastructure back in. Hall says the longer they wait to harvest corn, the harder it will be to process. The older the stalks get, the weaker they are. Picking up corn from the ground gets dirt into the combine and hurts the equipment.

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