EUTAWVILLE -- Hinnant Farm owners Virginia "Jinx" and Jack Hinnant have grown peaches for about 30 years and know well the fickleness and unpredictability of Mother Nature.

The recent record-breaking April freeze was another example of her cruel ways that have left the Hinnants hoping against hope that some of their 30 acres of peaches will be salvaged.

"That is what keeps us going -- hope," Hinnant said. "We did spray them and maybe we wasted another spray, maybe not."

Hinnant said preliminary inspections reveal some obvious examples of peach loss, but she says some peach varieties had not reached the critical stage to be damaged.

Hinnant said of the approximately 3,300 peach trees on the farm about 100 containing a white variety peach were completely destroyed.

But she said counsel received from some peach experts says the final tabulation of the extent of damage will be better known when peaches begin to fall off the trees.

Hinnant's optimism remains despite news reports to the contrary.

"It just sounds awful," she said. "In North Carolina, they (peaches) are gone. We have just been hearing that 90 percent were gone ... and that some are all gone. It we have any, it will certainly be a miracle."

Hinnant said freezes have wiped out the couple's peach crop before in a world where ups and downs become a common part of life.

"We had a good crop last year," she said, noting that 2006 was a positive year after a number of down years. "We were looking for a good crop this year and now we just don't know. We are hoping they are not as bad as they look now."

A significant dent in peach production also means a significant dent in the Hinnants' profits as peaches make up a good part of their operation.

The couple also have strawberries and pecan trees, which had not yet put out leaves and may have survived the freeze.

"They (strawberries) are looking good," Hinnant said. "We hope they will keep putting out and hope we will have a fairly good strawberry crop."

Coming out with a year-end profit is something Hinnant says is becoming harder and harder to do.

"It costs so much to plant and it seems like it all goes out for fertilizer and chemicals," she said. "Farming is not doing anything anymore, it seems."

The Hinnants' situation is being shared by other peach growers throughout the state.

Statewide, Commissioner of Agriculture Hugh Weathers and Larry Yonce, president of the S.C. Peach Council, estimate 90 percent of the peach crop was damaged.

"The peach is one of South Carolina's signature summertime fruits, and this one-year phenomenon has been a devastating blow to the industry for this year," Weathers said. "But South Carolina growers are resilient' he said, noting that state and federal support will help the state survive.

The peach industry is valued at more than $40 million a year, with $100 million a year economic impact.

Federal aid will be sought.

"We need extraordinary support during these extraordinary times," Yonce said.

In addition to area peaches, wheat and pecans were devastated by the freeze as well.

Wheat damage

Jay Chapin, wheat expert at the Edisto Research and Education Center in Blackville, said headed wheat and oats sustained "severe injury" and in some cases entire fields were wiped out.

"The percent loss is pure guess," Chapin said, explaining that any wheat headed wheat planted in November most likely sustained the most severe damage. The extent of the damage on wheat planted in December and still in boot stage or stage prior to heading remains uncertain.

"We will need to look for symptoms on booted wheat," Chapin said. "We don't potentially see it all (damage) yet."

Chapin said the freeze damage to this extent has not been seen in the area since 1983 when records show Orangeburg dropped down to 27 degrees on April 20 of that year.

"We have cold injury to some extent every few years," he said. "We are always in the balancing act between trying to maximize yields by early planting and avoiding too much risk of cold by planting too early."

The result of the wheat damage will mean that more farmers will most likely plant soybeans in the place of the unharvested wheat.

Pecan losses

at estimated

90 percent

David Summers, owner of Cameron's Golden Kernel Pecan Company, estimates the local pecan crop sustained a 90 percent loss.

"When you look at some of the trees that put out already ... they are gone," he said. "Mostly the old native pecans were in that stage."

Summers said most pecan growers are keeping their fingers crossed that the improved variety pecans such as the Stuarts will make a come back and that those trees not fully bloomed will make a dent in the loss.

"I tell you the truth nothing could be worse than in 2004," Summers said. That year Summers said Golden Kernel bought 4,000 pounds of pecans in South Carolina and about 800 pecans in North Carolina.

A good year the business usually purchases 2 million and 1 million pounds, respectively.

The loss is on the heels what has been about four consecutive years of a relatively subpar pecan crop.

"Sometimes it makes you wonder," Summers said, when asked if he ever considers getting out of the pecan industry. "It is kind of like when old South Carolina plays Clemson and you say wait until next year. You are kind of running out of those next years."

Early looks indicate

much corn could

be salvageable

Unlike wheat and peaches, the freeze does not appear to have damaged the corn crop extensively.

Davis said about 95 percent of the corn was planted and in the ground. Preliminary guesses estimate about 10 percent to 15 percent of the county's corn crop was totally destroyed.

Davis said a tour and examination of the county's corn crop planted -- which increased about 10 percent from last year partly due to an increase in corn prices -- revealed freeze damage stopped for the most part before the growing point of the corn.

"I don't think we had a bad injury out there," he said. "I think most of the corn will be able to grow back out of it but it is too early to tell."

But Davis said he is "growing antsy" about the corn crop planted shallow with its growing point barely under the ground.

"The biggest thing is not to plant shallow," he said.

Davis said the most significant impact will be a delay in crop maturity with pollination of the corn occurring during the hotter summer months.

"We could wind up with lower yields," he said.

Orangeburg County Clemson Extension Agent Lewis Beckham confirmed Davis' sentiment that the corn he saw in the county -- near the Norway and Bolentown areas -- at first glance looked like a complete loss but further investigation revealed the growing point was "still alive."

"It could recover," Beckham said, crediting the early season warmth helped soil temperatures warm and gave the corn some protection.

Freeze damages

tree buds

Orangeburg County Clemson Extension Agent Beth Richardson said to the best of her estimate the late freeze pushed back many of the trees growing cycles.

"It will not affect timber in the long or short run but it makes the trees weaker," Richardson said, explaining that many of the trees will have to start reproducing carbohydrates as part of their replenishment process.

"You can't find any sycamore leaves in the county," she noted, explaining that trees out of the city limits and away from heat sources received the most damage. "Oaks got burned back, sycamores got burned back. Live oaks took a big hit."

Richardson said hardwoods will put leaves back on if the are healthy but what is crucial now is moisture.

"They are not getting the rain they are supposed to," she said.

The situation has gotten so bad that Richardson says she is having a hard time finding leaves for her Future Farmers of America Forestry Team students to study as part of their tree identification training for a state competition.

"Sourwood leafs just cannot be found," Richardson said, pleading for someone somewhere to help her find a live sourwood.

Statewide

assessment

USDA Farm Service Agency's County Emergency Boards are currently in the process of assessing agricultural damage at the local level.

The findings will be sent directly to the USDA in Washington.

More detailed damage assessment reports will be developed within the next few weeks and those reports will be sent to Gov. Mark Sanford. The governor's office then requests a disaster declaration to the secretary of agriculture, if warranted, and the secretary then approves or declines the request.

Damages and losses prompting disaster designations must be due to a natural disaster and a minimum 30 percent production loss of at least one crop in the county must have occurred.

Normal year yield will be the average yield of the five years immediately preceding the disaster year for each crop.

Currently, disaster assistance is available through low-interest loans, but Congress has the authority to appropriate funding for disaster assistance.

"Whatever the results, the agricultural community will come together," Weathers said. "It's all about farmers helping farmers, people helping people, when the chips are down."

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