OGLETHORPE, Ga. — Lots of Central Georgians are anxiously watching the forecast for Hurricane Ian, including farmers. Some say they're still hurting from Hurricane Michael in 2018.
13WMAZ’s Jessica Cha visited a couple to see how they were affected then, and what another hurricane could mean for them.
"We're in a better place now, but a repeat would really hurt us,” says Ideal Farms owner Matt Oliver.
Oliver says he's been farming since 2002 and has grown his operation to a larger scale starting in 2016. He says he grows nearly every crop under the sun, including cotton.
"We've got about 950 acres of cotton altogether,” he says.
Oliver says he’s about to harvest 950,000 pounds of cotton this year, which is only a moderate amount. He says Georgia is set to be the second biggest producer of cotton in the nation this year.
Taylor Sills, executive director of the Georgia Cotton Commission, says Michael ruined one million bales of cotton that cost farmers $300 million in all.
Oliver says he's worried about the storm because they're still recovering from Hurricane Michael.
"We woke up on the morning of the 11th. There was way more cotton in the center of the row than there was on the plant, just laying on the ground,” Oliver explains. “Once it's on the ground, it's no good. Even if you were to get it off the ground, the grade would’ve been so poor, the gin wouldn’t have wanted it.”
Oliver said they lost 60% of their crop and fell into debt, along with many other farmers in the area.
"A number of famers, if this happened to them one more time, it would be 'game over,' probably no reset,” he says.
Mark Sanchez is CEO of Lane Southern Orchards.
"There's just not a lot we can do about it other than watch,” he says.
He says Georgia is the nation's largest producer of pecans.
“Of the entire national crop, Georgia will produce almost half of that every year.”
Sanchez says that– like cotton– it's just a little too soon to harvest some varieties of their pecans, and the storm could cause a lot of damage.
"If we have hurricane-force winds, we'd see a lot of limb breakage. You would see some trees would be uprooted, most likely,” he explains.
Sanchez says his farm wasn't hit too hard by Hurricane Michael, but they're preparing for the worst and hoping for the best right now.
"We put a lot of effort into this. This is the one time of year we get to harvest our crop, so for something to come through at this time and cause a major problem is very disappointing,” he says.
Oliver says farmers are usually optimistic to a fault, but right now, he says all he can do is pray this storm won't be as bad as 2018.