Recent and new flooding in Scotland County has taken a heavy toll on farmers and their crops. Scotland County Extension Director Randy Wood stated that crops across the board have suffered from Hurricane Florence and recent rain storms. “These are estimates but talking with farmers and looking at pods in the fields, it is going to be bad,” said Wood. “About 40 to 60 percent of the top crops ruined were caused by wind and flooding.” Wood said that the county could lose from 30 to 50 percent for soybeans, 50 to 75 percent for peanuts and sweet potatoes, and 30 to 50 percent for cotton. He also said that plants that grew underground received the most damage. “For farmers who took their crops out before the storm, they did not receive as much loss,” said Wood.”For the sweet potatoes and peanuts, any time you have a crop grow underground, with that much flooding, they cannot take it and will start to rot.” He stated that the livestock in the county had “luckily no major issues” reported to him so far. Wood added that insured farmers would most likely receive coverage for their losses but not make a profit and that all farmers affected can apply for a disaster relief program. “The North Carolina Legislature will hopefully have disaster funds to help, but for now I do not know how much it will help,” said Wood. Source - https://www.laurinburgexchange.com