Mississippi farmers facing catastrophic crop losses after heavy fall rains hope to see extra disaster relief funded by Congress.

Dr. Lester Spell, Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce, said he has asked the Mississippi congressional delegation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to go beyond normal programs to help farmers seeing double devastation in 2009 — flooding in the spring and the fall — after 2008, which was a tough year as well.

Losses are on the horizon in soybean, cotton, sweet potato, corn and rice crops. The state’s pecan crop looks better than average this year, though extended periods of rain are threatening to delay that harvest, too.

Economists at Mississippi State University estimate farm losses have reached $485 million. Nearly 64 percent of the state’s sweet potato crop — valued at nearly $40 million — is expected to be lost. Soybean losses could top 44 percent, or $307 million, along with half of the state’s nearly $150 million cotton crop.

“Existing USDA assistance for many of these crops will not be available for up to a year or more,” Spell said in a press release. “By that time, I fear many of our hardworking Mississippi farmers will no longer be able to operate due to the excessive losses faced this year which will, in turn, affect their access to financing for the future.��

Cory Horton, an assistant to Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said farmers from the Delta Council met with the House Agriculture Committee Tuesday morning to plead for help.

“Congressman Thompson also plans to engage members of the Agriculture Committee to see what emergency relief can be provided for the farmers,” Horton said. Thompson, formerly an ag committee member, chairs Homeland Security.

Tacking the measure onto one of the appropriations bills Congress is slated to take up before its December recess is seen as the likeliest path for relief, he said.

If passed, it will still take months — but fewer than usual — for the money to make its way into farmers’ bank accounts.

“There’s a great need for additional relief for farmers,” Warren County farmer Ed McKnight said this morning from the field off Chickasaw Road where he was harvesting soybeans. “But they need it like AIG got it — in a matter of weeks.”

Usual methods of farm relief funding take 12 to 18 months to kick in, said Warren County Extension Service director John Coccaro. Emergency relief can come in the form of “very, very low-interest loans” through the USDA, he said. “If the farmer doesn’t have a crop to sell, he can’t pay his production loan. The emergency loan can help shore a farmer up until he can get back on his feet again.”

October rainfall was more than triple the average for the month. The gauge at the Vicksburg Water Plant, for example, recorded 9.7 inches. Normal for October is 2.84 inches. Yearly rainfall, too, exceeds normal by nearly 10 inches — 51.29 verses 42.56 inches, as of Oct. 31.

Statistics cited by the Delta Council in its appeal to Thompson included rainfall amounts 600 percent above normal in north Mississippi, leaving farmers just 13 “fit-for-harvest” days in the peak harvest period from Aug. 15 to Oct. 15.

Their photos show cotton, soybean and corn crops in standing water, damaged cotton, mildewed soybeans and other damage.

Pecan growers, anticipating more than 2 million pounds in this year’s harvest, also are seeing complications from rain. “The problem we’re having is not being able to harvest,” said David Ingram, MSU Extension plant pathologist. “(We) have to have a few weeks of dry weather to be able to get the pecan crop in.”

The heavy fall rains came on the heels of late spring floods that ruined sprouting corn crops, with losses that included seed, fertilizer and herbicide as well as labor costs, said Coccaro.

After the floods, many farmers, including McKnight, worked to salvage the growing season by replanting with soybeans, the crop now seeing heavy damages just at harvest time.

“There are so many acres planted,” Coccaro said, “about 2 million acres of soybeans in Mississippi. Only about 60 percent have been harvested to date. That means there’s a lot of acres of soybeans still in the fields, mature and ready to harvest.”

The mature crop can deteriorate quickly, he said, if harvesting is delayed.

In addition to rainfall, Warren County farmers like McKnight with fields north of Vicksburg in the Chickasaw and Long Lake areas, also are facing an unusually high Mississippi River for this time of year, said Coccaro. Generally measured in single digits in November, the river was at 36.6 feet Tuesday and forecast to crest at 40 feet Nov. 13.

“That’s putting a lot of acres under water,” Coccaro said, “and makes other farm-land a lot harder to get to.”

“We’re trying to get them out before the river gets them again,” McKnight said of his soybeans. “The rainfall has delayed us from harvesting, but the quality is still good.”

Normal USDA disaster relief mechanisms kicked in Oct. 20, when U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack declared Mississippi a major disaster area based on spring flooding from April 25 through June 25. The designation places Warren County among the areas eligible to receive federal disaster assistance through the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act.

Coccaro said county Farm Service Agency emergency committees completed USDA-required reports on local farming losses Oct. 23, and local farmers can apply for the USDA loans. Applications can be made through FSA until June 21.

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Contact Pamela Hitchins at phitchins@vicksburgpost.com