ATLANTA, June 15 (UPI) -- Heavy rain and unseasonable cold has damaged Southeast Georgia's blueberry, tobacco, peanut and cotton crops, farm officials said.
High-bush blueberries are ripe but many are too muddy to harvest, said Danny Stanaland, an agent for the Georgia Agriculture Extension Service.
"We only got about 35 percent to 50 percent of the normal harvest of high-bush berries," Stanaland said.
Many blueberry farmers report crops are rotting in the field because they can't move harvesting equipment through the mud, The (Jacksonville) Florida Times-Union, reported Monday.
The unseasonably cold weather has damaged tobacco, peanuts and cotton crops throughout the region, said James Jacobs, a county agriculture agent.
"It's too late to replant tobacco," Jacobs said, adding that an estimated 25 percent of the region's cotton and peanut farmers will need to replant because of rotted seed and washed out plants.
"They've gone through this kind of hardship before," Jacobs said. "They put their heads down and work harder to get through it."
