Horry County farmers, congressman urging governor to change position on flood assistance for farmers

Jan. 23--AYNOR -- January usually means blowtorches, wrenches and grease for Ronald Rabon.

It's the month the 60-year-old Aynor farmer pulls his tractors and cotton picker into a red metal workshop for their pre-season tuneups.

But this winter the equipment sits beneath a storage shed. The green John Deere combine, which normally would be waxed and glistening, lies caked in mud and decaying soybeans, reminders of the worst growing season Rabon can recall.

"I just don't need to be spending money," the fourth generation farmer said. "I've never liked to buy nothing as long as I owe the other man."

And there are a lot of other men.

After October's flood wiped out most of his cotton and soybeans, Rabon's losses topped $240,000. He has hundreds of thousands of dollars in bills due, including rent for most of the nearly 1,200 acres he farms.

"I ain't got it to give them," he said of his landlords. "I told them they'd have to give me some time."

What Rabon and many South Carolina farmers are waiting for is some type of flood relief for the crops that drowned last fall.

October's deluge dumped 11 trillion gallons of water on the state, causing widespread devastation. Along with roads, businesses and homes, farms were not spared. The latest estimates show the flood damage to agriculture exceeded $530 million statewide, including more than $9 million in Horry County.

Adding to the blow of the flood was a stifling summer drought that hurt corn and tobacco.

"Just about every crop was a failure," said William Hardee, Clemson Extension Services' agronomy agent for Horry and Marion counties. "Usually one crop will pull you through. This year, a lot of people lost money on everything."

For farmers, the wait for assistance may be a long one.

I've never begged for no money from the government to farm. It makes me feel bad to even ask for help. I declare it does.

Ronald Rabon, Aynor farmer

State lawmakers on Thursday introduced a bill that, if passed, would create a "South Carolina Farm Aid Fund," which would assist agricultural commodity producers that have lost at least 40 percent of their crop to a natural disaster (excluding droughts). A special board of agriculture officials would sort applications and each flood grant would cover 20 percent of an individual's crop losses.

That bill, however, must travel through the legislative process, so it's unclear when it would be approved, if at all.

Federal officials estimate that about $80 million in grant money could be available to help farmers, but the governor would have to request that money.

That's another challenge. Gov. Nikki Haley has said she doesn't want to accept federal assistance for a specific industry.

"What this comes down to is, I'm not going to choose one industry over the other," she said recently.

The governor did request a federal disaster designation that allowed farmers to access an emergency loan program. In November, she also asked the U.S. agriculture secretary to expedite insurance payments to farmers.

But Haley has said farmers already have a federally-subsidized insurance program and shouldn't receive special treatment.

"I don't know what more money to ask for because doing that would be going to taxpayers to say, 'Give them money because they're farmers,'" she said. "And that's not my role as governor. So I am not comfortable doing that. What we did do is say we're going to treat everybody exactly the same and that's what we did."

When asked about the governor's stance on the matter last week, Haley spokeswoman Chaney Adams said that position hasn't changed.

But local farmers, state lawmakers and U.S. Rep. Tom Rice insist they will try to persuade Haley.

The governor's position troubles Rabon and other farmers, who know their insurance will only cover a small portion of their losses.

Rabon said the disaster had nothing to do with his financial management. With the little cotton he sold and insurance money, Rabon will receive about $152 for each of the nearly 600 acres of cotton he planted.

He invested $575 an acre.

"If my finance man won't refinance me, I'm out of business," he said. "I'm 60 years old, been doing it all my life."

A lot of these farmers, they lost everything. They lost all their inventory, their crop, their profit for the whole year. And a lot of these small farmers, they just can't recover from that. They're going to lose their farms.

U.S. Rep. Tom Rice, R-Myrtle Beach

In the aftermath of the flood, many public officials expressed support for farmers, prompting growers to believe financial help was on the way.

"That made them think something was going to happen," said Blake Lanford, a regional lead agent with Clemson Extension. "It was like, 'They wouldn't give us this much attention if nothing was going to happen.' ... I'm sure they're kind of getting frustrated with the timing, but there was already a lot of pent up frustration to begin with, based on the changes to the farm bill that happened last year."

The 2014 federal farm bill removed direct payments for disaster relief, forcing farmers to determine how much of their crops to insure.

Yet even with conservative estimates, Landford said, farmers could not have predicted so much devastation.

"Even those folks that did everything right, even those folks that took advantage of every single solitary option they had relative to insuring their crops, they also lost big," he said. "It's not like chump change."

Dennis Martin, a 35-year-old farmer from the Aynor area, said he had insurance, but it won't come anywhere close to paying for the 95 percent of his soybean crop that was destroyed. He also left half of his waterlogged peanuts rotting in the field.

"Pretty much lost on everything this year," he said.

Martin was among a group of about 100 farmers who met with Rice and other officials at the Horry County government building in Conway on Friday to talk about their concerns and the efforts to collect flood assistance.

State Rep. Kevin Hardee, R-Loris, who supports the farm bill that was proposed in the state House of Representatives, suggested farmers share their stories with Haley.

"I suggest you call the governor," he said. "Nothing motivates me like a group like this calling me."

I don't know what more money to ask for because doing that would be going to taxpayers to say, 'Give them money because they're farmers. And that's not my role as governor. So I am not comfortable doing that. What we did do is say we're going to treat everybody exactly the same and that's what we did.

Gov. Nikki Haley

Some farmers questioned the governor's reasoning, though Rice said Haley is scheduled to meet with state agriculture leaders next week. He urged farmers to be patient.

"Our governor is our friend," he said. "I think in the end she'll make the right decision. ... I don't think that getting into a war of words is in anybody's best interest here."

But Rice made clear that his position differs from the one taken by the governor, who has repeatedly said farmers should not enjoy an advantage that other small business owners don't.

Rice's eight-county district accounts for about 65 percent of the state's row crops. He pointed out that during the flood farmers suffered in ways restaurant or store owners did not.

"Most of those businesses, a week later they were back up and serving customers," he said. "A lot of these farmers, they lost everything. They lost all their inventory, their crop, their profit for the whole year. And a lot of these small farmers, they just can't recover from that. They're going to lose their farms."

Horry County Councilman Al Allen said he's received numerous calls from farmers in his district, which covers western Horry.

Allen compared the flood relief for farmers to the assistance the Northeast received after Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

"Tell me what the difference is," he said. "Why can't they be fed from the same spoon?"

Agriculture, the councilman said, is one of the state's key industries.

"You've got to have it," he said. "You've got to have something to eat. You've got to have something to wear. ... America can't survive without our farmers."

Local and state officials also maintain the impact of the farm losses extends far beyond the fields. Tractor supply stores will lose business, cotton gins may lay off workers and fertilizer sales will decline.

"The circle keeps widening," said Clemson Extension agent David DeWitt.

Rabon sees the effects of the flood when he goes to buy equipment.

"It's like a ghost town out there, man," he said. "You can go to the tractor dealerships to pick up a part and there ain't nobody there. ... Farmers spend a lot of money when they've got it."

As Rabon contemplates his future, he knows he's better off than some of his peers. His lender will approve another loan, give him a chance to refinance and give farming another shot. This time next year, he'd love nothing more than to be working on his tractor in his barn, the one with the picture of Jesus on one side of the door and an image of a cotton ball on the other.

And that's his point. He wants to keep farming. He just doesn't know how he can.

"I've never begged for no money from the government to farm," he said. "It makes me feel bad to even ask for help. I declare it does."

Charles D. Perry: 843-626-0218, @TSN_CharlesPerr

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