UPDATED 12:51 p.m. Friday September 8, 2017
Hurricane Irma is threatening the Carolinas during harvest time for corn and peanuts. One farmer in South Carolina is hurrying to get as much as he can out of the ground before the weather hits.
Russell Ott has three combines running on his farm south of Columbia. He’s rushing to harvest almost 200 acres of corn and peanuts before the storm comes. This is the third consecutive year farmers in South Carolina have faced damage from hurricanes. Ott said it’s a community effort to get these crops out of the ground.
“We are covering a lot of ground and again that’s because of the generosity of our friends and neighbors,” he said. “We should definitely finish our corn crop and then we’ll be helping some other farmers in the area that need help as well.”
Ott said his most vulnerable crop is his cotton. Because it won’t be ready to be harvested for another few weeks. North and South Carolina have temporarily lifted roadway weight restrictions to make it easier for farmers to transport livestock and newly harvested crops.