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VDACS has HELP for
stricken farmers
The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has expanded the scope of its toll-free information lines for farmers and has established a Hay/Feed Emergency Location Program (HELP) to assist farmers in locating hay to buy or sell.
The toll-free numbers are 1-800-552-1833 or 1-800-552-5521. The second number provides recorded livestock price information.
“It appears, at the present time, that hay is available from Virginia sources to handle immediate needs,” said S. Mason Carbaugh VDACS Commissioner.
However, the Commissioner advised any farmer with a 50 percent or higher feed loss to contact his local ASCS office before purchasing any hay or feed to be eligible for the ASCS’s Emergency Feed Program.
Virginia’s Eastern Shore potato production for this year is expected to be only 1.2 million hundredweights, compared with 3.3 million hundredweights in 1985, according to Homer K. Rowley of the Virginia Agricultural Statistics Service.
Rowley said wheat estimates for this year in the Old Dominion are 6.8 million bushels, compared to 10.5 million bushels produced a year ago.
Flue-cured tobacco was expected to produce about 56 million pounds this year, while farmers harvested 65.1 million pounds in 1985, the VASS reported.
Estimates on later summer crops, such as com, soybeans, and peanuts, will come in August. Com and soybeans appear to be two of the hardest hit commodities.
There is still a bright spot for Virginia agriculture though. Apple and peach growers still expect good harvests.
Apples are estimated to produce about 500 million pounds, which could be the largest harvest since 1982, Rowley said. About 395 million pounds were produced a year ago, he said.
Peaches may produce 32 million pounds, the largest crop in two years. A spring freeze virtually wiped out the entire state peach crop in 1985.
95.4%