PEACH COUNTY, Ga. — Storm damage can be costly for farmers.
University of Georgia Cooperative Extension researchers found Georgia farms suffered more than $2 billion in losses after Hurricane Michael wiped out hundreds of fields in 2018.
Georgia is the leading grower of pecans - a crop that's vulnerable to storms. Heavy wind and rain can uproot trees, blow them over and scatter debris from broken branches.
Mark Sanchez, Lane Southern Orchard's CEO, said some pecans haven't fully matured and that could affect harvesting. Sanchez said he's more worried about high wind speeds than flood waters.
"When [pecan hulls] get this big and so when they get like this, you get a big wind; it starts doing this and that [shaking trees], that can damage the tree, make the nuts fall off, cause a lot of problems," Sanchez said.
Sanchez said as pecans mature, they naturally fall to the ground, adding they could lose many due to the storm.
"You can wait for the trees to the nuts, to open the husk to open and you can harvest the nuts, but anything that breaks off (and) is not in a harvest condition, will be lost," he said.
Sanchez said he thinks his farm will not suffer financially.
"We're in a good position because we are a very large company and have the other parts of the company that kind of help make up for anything that has a bad year," Sanchez said.
So he said the farm wants to preserve as many as they can before the hurricane rolls through.
"We're trying to harvest a few of those to get some weight off the trees so that they're not quite as susceptible to the damage, but that's just a small number of our trees," he said.
He said though the pecans are most vulnerable right now, they still check the entire property.
"We're going around all of our buildings and picking up things that can fly around and cause damage and those types of things, but not really a lot you can do to get ready for it," Sanchez said.
He said he's feeling optimistic until then.
"We're hoping for the best; I think it'll be ok, pecan trees are pretty tough (and) they're resilient, so we'll see," Sanchez said.
Georgia Department of Agriculture says if someone has crop damage, document it and refer to their insurance agent and contact a local United States Department of Agriculture farm service agency before cleaning up.