By TIM THORNBERRY
Kentucky Correspondent

LEXINGTON, Ky. — To say that spring’s late freeze coupled with this summer’s drought have created problems for farmers would be an understatement, but all is not bad news, at least for some producers.

The wheat crop has been harvested and the early indications of a 50-60 percent loss, totaling $63 million, aren’t holding up in all cases. Chad Lee, University of Kentucky assistant Extension professor for grain crops said the harvest has been better than early expectations.

“Preliminary reports on wheat harvested for grain are much better than expected,” he said. “We have reports of wheat fields averaging anywhere from 30-70 bushels an acre. Even at 30 bushels an acre, it’s better than we expected.”

Lee also said the trend seems to be statewide as opposed to sporadic occurrences. Still the state’s wheat producers lost about one-third of the total crop from fields that were beyond use. But the year has been a learning experience for researchers as well as producers.

Lee indicated that research plots that had been treated with nitrogen two weeks before the freeze did consistently better than those that had not. He also said location of the fields and wheat that had been planted later in the season had faired better as well.
In an ironic twist, one thing that may have helped those wheat producers reeling from the Easter Freeze was the drought conditions that have plagued much of the state and the southeast.

“Another reason we feel the wheat yields were better is because it has stayed hot and dry. These conditions kept disease away and kept heavy rains from damaging the wheat.”

Though it has been a tough year for all producers, Lee said the conditions of last spring are very unusual.

“Keep in mind, this thing was probably a one-in-one hundred year event based on weather data. Next year should be business as usual.”

Many grape producers also came away in better shape than first thought. Kentucky’s grape and wine industry has grown into a $24 million business that more than doubled wine production from 2003-06. More than 40 wineries operate in the state.

Joe Thornsberry, owner of Zachary Vineyard in Franklin County said his grapes seem to be doing well - but only time will tell. “After the freeze, we lost all the blooms and buds on our vines but they came right back. I don’t know whether they will be any good or not, but we have more grapes hanging than ever before,” he said.

Thornsberry started growing grapes in 2001 as a diversification crop away from tobacco on a farm that has been in his family since 1875. “The season has turned out better than we thought in one way; but because of the dry weather, we were about to start irrigating before the rain we received last week,” he said.

Thornsberry credits having a couple of hardy varieties of grapes with part of the success this year but acknowledges that Mother Nature is hard to figure out.

‘The grapes we grow are pretty disease resistant, but every summer brings something different. Last year was a good year for us, but the year before was about like this one - hot and dry. The climate just keeps changing from year to year,” said Thornsberry.

Even with the relatively good news on wheat and grapes, not all producers have faired as well. John Strang, UK Extension fruit and vegetable specialist, said Kentucky lost $16.35 million of its $19 million fruit crop due to the freeze.

The USDA issued a declaration of an agricultural disaster for the state last month due to that spring freeze meaning Kentucky farmers in all 120 counties are eligible for low interest emergency loans.