As devastating drought drags on in the Southwest, Georgia
farmers are singing in the
rain.

"We got rain just in time," said John Beasley, a
peanut specialist with the
University of Georgia Extension Service.

"That early dry spell didn’t hurt us too bad," he
said. "What happens in
the next 90 days, though, will have a huge impact on the yield
and quality of peanuts
we’ll have."

Most early-planted peanuts hit the ground in mid-April. The
dry weather came during the
early growth stages, when peanut plants need little water to
grow.

"Had the drought gone on another 10 to 14 days, we would
have begun to see the
effect," Beasley said.

The Southwest drought hasn’t hit the peanut crop yet.

"In Texas, they’re still planting their peanut
crop," Beasley said.
"Because Texas has about five different peanut-producing
areas, whether the price of
peanuts is affected really depends on what area is affected
most.

"Until we get later in the season," he said,
"we won’t see any impact.
If the rains here had come a few weeks later, we would have seen
some movement in the
price already, because we would have seen some negative effect
on the plants."

The second round of Georgia’s peanut planting was in May, so
those plants were very
small during the dry weather and weren’t affected.

"As we enter June," Beasley said, "the peanuts
planted in April will
need more water. We need consistent rainfall through the next
three months to keep the
soil moist so the nuts will develop."

While peanut farmers are rejoicing, many livestock farmers
are still waiting for their
showers of blessings.

Droughts in Texas and Oklahoma and grain prices on the roof
have helped send Georgia
feeder calf prices into the basement.

"The dry weather affected livestock more than
anything," said Bill Givan, an
Extension Service economist. "They pretty well have run out
of pasture and are fast
running out of hay. They can’t feed corn — it’s too expensive.
So they’re putting a lot
of cattle on the market."

With corn prices at top dollar, feeding it to animals is a
losing deal.

"Broiler contractors and feed lots are cutting back on
the number of animals they
put in," Givan said. "The only way they can combat it
is to bid lower on feeder
calves, which is what we grow here."

The price of feeder calves dipped to less than half of what
they were two years ago.

"That’s like giving them away," Givan said.

Rain isn’t the only problem with the corn prices, though.

"We didn’t have a really good year last year for corn
production," Givan
said. "But a worldwide increase in grain demand, especially
in the Far East, is
keeping prices high."

Everyone is pointing a finger at China.

"They’re importing grain now, where they used to be
exporters," Givan said.
"They are becoming meat-eaters, and you have to feed corn
for good meat."

Givan said the Chinese economy is one of the fastest-growing
in the world, marking
yearly increases at 10 percent compared to the U.S. annual
growth of 2 percent to 3
percent.

"They also have about one-sixth of the world’s
population," Givan said.
"That’s a lot of grain."

With that kind of demand, even rain may not lower grain
prices.

"Dwindling grain stocks keep pushing the price of corn
up," Givan said.
"Georgia is grain-deficient, so we bring corn in from the
Midwest at market price
plus shipping prices.

"If you have some corn in storage, well, you’re probably
grinning all the way to
the bank," he said.