TIFTON, Ga.— A disaster is a disaster – regardless if it comes from a hurricane, tornado, flood or drought. This year has been a tough one for farmers. The drought conditions of this summer has one farmer in Dooly County thinking about cutting back his acreage next year and is causing another farmer in Ben Hill County to consider not harvesting 300 acres of his peanut crop. Reports like these can be heard from farmers across the state whether they grow crops or raise livestock.

“This has been the worst year in the 38 years I’ve been farming,” says David Reed, a farmer in Pinehurst, Ga. “We were hammered with dry weather from planting on. This year we planted 275 acres of peanuts and 2,500 acres of cotton.”

Drought conditions forced Reed to replant 2,100 acres of his cotton crop during the first two months after he initially planted the crop. Replanting cost Reed another $12 per acre in fuel and labor to go back over the land.

Sixty miles south of Pinehurst in Fitzgerald, Art Dorminy decided earlier not to harvest some 300 acres of corn because the crop’s yield was so devastated by the drought that he wouldn’t recover the fuel cost to harvest it. Now he has decided not to harvest 30 percent of his peanut crop (roughly 300 acres) for the same reason.

“Our peanuts are poor to fair this year,” says Dorminy. “There are some peanuts that have no hope, only one or two pods per plant. They are simply not worth digging and it would be a waste of fuel.”

The weather patterns this year are not only affecting dryland farmers but also irrigated farmers across the state. According to Dorminy and Reed, farmers who have irrigated may have a better crop and higher yield but they may be even worse off due to the high cost of running irrigation.

“It’s just been a hot, dry year -- bottom-line,” Dorminy says.

According to GeorgiaWeather.net, many counties in the Southeast have experienced 6 to 17 inches less rainfall during the last 90 days when compared to a normal growing season. Affected peanut producing areas include the Florida panhandle, southwest and central Georgia and most of southern Alabama.

Reed is hoping to make it through this year and would like some assistance from Congress. “I’m looking at cutting back two-thirds of my operation, and my son is even looking at other options for a career,” he says. “There is nothing in this for the future if there is no profit in it.”

Reed’s father moved to the Pinehurst area in 1926 to farm. David is the only Reed left farming in his family. “I’m disappointed that this family farm could come to an end one day,” he says.

These stories and many others can be found across the Southeast. Eleven representative farms help to provide The University of Georgia National Center for Peanut Competitiveness (NCPC) a cross-sectional analysis of the diversified southeastern U.S. farming environment and the plight of farmers across the Southeast. Economic data is gathered from these farms known as the Southeastern Representative Peanut Farms which help to determine the economic viability of the farms along with many other forecasted economic and financial variables.

“Data collected from these eleven farms suggest that the economic viability of Southeastern agriculture is in jeopardy,” says Stanley Fletcher, director of the center. “In the August 2006 baseline, results show nine out of the eleven representative farms as red being bad. In the August 2004 baseline study, only one farm was in the red.”

According to the center, this diminished economic viability is the result of increased energy costs and higher interest rates. Farmers are not able to pass on these costs or increase their commodity prices to offset these increases.

Recently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture designated 155 counties in Georgia as primary natural disaster areas due to losses caused by drought and excessive temperatures that occurred from March 1, 2006, and continuing. The decision makes all qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for low-interest emergency loans from USDA’s Farm Service Agency.

“I am concerned that with the debt load our farmers are already carrying another loan could be a curse instead of a blessing,” says Don Koehler, executive director of the Georgia Peanut Commission.

More than 66 percent of all U.S. counties have been declared primary or contiguous disaster areas by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) this year. These designations are on top of the nearly 80 percent of counties declared disasters in 2005. The economic impact of these disasters has a resounding effect on our rural communities.

“Farming is in my blood and that’s all I know. I enjoy seeing crops grow and enjoy working the land,” Reed says. “I used to enjoy getting up every morning and going out to work, but now I sometimes dread it because times are hard. This isn’t just the crop loss anymore but the increasing costs of fuel. I believe even irrigated farmers will see a loss.”

Peanut production is forecast at 3.20 billion pounds, down 34 percent from last year’s crop and down 2 percent from last month. If realized, this would be the lowest production since 1980.