South Carolina farmers struggle after crop damage from extreme weather events in 2015

An article published in The State newspaper on March 7th, 2016 describes the challenges farmers in South Carolina faced as a result of drought, flood, and heavy precipitation events in 2015 that impacted crops. According to the S.C. Department of Agriculture, the agriculture industry incurred $587 million in damages in 2015, resulting from losses in soybean, cotton, and peanut crops. Many farmers worry about compounding losses and debt in 2016 due to falling commodity prices and more unanticipated extreme events, especially if federal and state aid do not come through to supplement crop disaster aid from crop insurance.

Damaged peanut crop - photo from The State