Drought cripples nursery industry
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The latest bit of cruelty includes a heat wave with 100-degree temperatures, and a drought that still hasn’t produced a half-inch of rain in McMinnville for the entire month of August.
‘We started with a freeze, then we went into a drought, and then we get record heat with a drought,’ said local nurseryman Frank Rice. ‘But if you have a mortgage payment, the banks don’t care about any of that.’
The late freeze already had the nursery industry on its heels with federal estimates putting Warren County losses at around $100 million. While most farmers admitted their losses were substantial, they added the freeze damage could be lessened by a wet summer.
That wet summer has been nowhere to be found. In its place is what the National Weather Service classifies as an ‘extreme and exceptional drought.’
So far this month, there has been only .43 inches of rainfall in the city of McMinnville. Last August, the city reported 3.58 inches of rain.
Although it did rain in some parts of the county yesterday, recording stations at McMinnville Water Plant and West Warren-Viola Utility reported no rain.
‘It’s been bad, real bad and I don’t know any other way to put it,’ said Michael Hobbs, co-owner of Warren County Nursery. ‘As far as I’m concerned, it’s the worst I’ve ever seen, and I’ve talked to some old-timers and they say it’s the worst they’ve seen.’
To make matters worse, when the nursery industry struggles, it impacts the entire Warren County economy.
‘If it hurts us, it hurts everybody,’ said Hobbs. ‘Look how much money the nursery business brings into this county.’
Sadly, nurseries from one end of the county to the other are reporting difficult times.
‘I don’t think there are a lot of nurserymen here who are going to have good things to say,’ said Ricky Magness. ‘It’s been dry all summer and it was dry all winter.’
Added Jack Odom, ‘It’s been devastating and it’s been expensive. Between the drought, the freeze and immigration, I don’t know what else you can put on a farmer.’
The drought is not unique to McMinnville as dry weather has struck the entire Midstate. In Nashville, rainfall is currently 14 inches below normal, according to the National Weather Service. Nashville had received only .08 inches of rain in the past 32 days as of yesterday afternoon.
The drought has been more damaging than the freeze, according to several local nurserymen. Flower City nursery owner Bill Boyd says many of his trees and shrubs survived the late freeze without a problem. However, the drought has impacted all of his plants.
‘The plants don’t gain any size without appropriate rainfall,’ said Boyd, a past president of the Southern Nursery Association. ‘And size is money. The profit margin is much more with larger plants.’
Hobbs compared the local nursery industry to a corn farmer. He said during strong years, a corn farmer might get 125 bushels of corn per acre. During lean years, that number might drop to 75 bushels.
‘The lack of growth hurts as much as anything,’ said Hobbs. ‘If the trees don’t grow, you don’t get as much money out of them. In some cases, it could mean $25 a tree. But we’re still in business and we still have plants to sell. It’s just not as much, and it’s not as big.’
Outside of expensive irrigation systems which can ease the problem, there’s not much that can be done to help farmers when it doesn’t rain. And irrigation systems aren’t practical for farmers with hundreds of acres of nursery stock.
‘I can get roughly 100 of my 400 acres,’ said Magness of his irrigation system. ‘And really that’s just keeping it wet until a rain gets here. It’s not getting it wet deep in the ground.’
Several nurserymen have been quick to point out that the dry weather began last summer, which has made the entire year stressful on plants. It was also mentioned that cattle owners have experienced a difficult time too because the dry weather has hurt pasture land and decreased the amount of available hay.