4 years ago
Share
Dudley Webb, Jr. says he was in the black with $100,000 dollars in the bank. But within one year, he says he's now $60,000 in the hole and asks himself each day why he continues to farm.
Webb works in the family business; they've farmed Arkansas land since 1905. He tills 3,500 acres to grow rice, corn, soybeans and wheat. He says this winter's wheat crop is stunted because of a lack of rain. ?We've applied fertilizer trying to boost it and it's just, it's just like you would be I guess if you were out in the desert and you finally ran out of water.?
The U.S. Department of Agriculture maps show top soil in Arkansas is very dry. Webb says he can put that into dollars and cents on what that top soil has cost him and his neighbors. ?Our little community has probably lost; I wouldn't hesitate to say that we lost three to four million dollars in the England area. That's a pretty good chunk. People that have never had any problems paying their bills are having trouble this year,? says Webb.
Allan Beureman of the Pulaski County Extension Center says central Arkansas normally sees five to six inches of rain this time of January. But this year, it's been much less, even counting Monday's drenching.
Beureman says, ?Certainly it helped but I only think we got maybe about a third of an inch in this area, so it's just a kind of drop in the bucket right now.?
Webb says right now it is as bad for farmers as the Great Depression. But he says they're a hearty bunch and with growth, surely comes some pain.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the top five counties in agricultural sales in Arkansas are: Washington, Benton, Mississippi, Carroll and Arkansas Counties.
