Northwest Florida farmers grapple with drought as green peanut harvest faces challenges

PENSACOLA, Fla. — Abnormally dry conditions are in Northwest Florida.

While many enjoy the dryer fall temps, farmers say it’s impacting their crops. A local farmer said the dry weather isn’t necessarily a bad thing for his crops.

But it’s not a good thing either, saying dry weather can make the soil hard to work with and can ultimately become costly.

At Holland Farms, the pumpkin patch is open and families are visiting the corn maze. But behind the fun, the green peanut harvest is in full swing.

“We start in July and run through about November,” said BJ Holland of Holland Farms. “This is the peak.”

Across Northwest Florida, a drought is impacting Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties. Those areas considered to be “abnormally dry,” despite small showers hitting coastal areas last week.

“It didn’t really make too much of a dent, especially inland where the farmland is,” WEAR News meteorologist Brooke Richardson said. “…We’re definitely below average for rainfall this year.”

Green peanuts are the cash crop at Holland Farms. It’s used for boiled peanuts and peanut butter. BJ Holland, one of the owners at Holland Farms, says dry weather can be a catch 22 for harvesting.

“The dry weather’s good for harvests,” Holland said. “The peanuts can be dried.”

But he says if the ground is too dry, digging up the peanuts becomes more difficult.

“You need some moisture to get the plows in the ground,” Holland said. “But once they’re flipped, you don’t want any rain on them.”

Dry soil is also tough on equipment and repairs can add up quickly.

“If you’re changing plows every 10 acres, instead of 50 or 60, that adds up quick,” said Holland.

“I would say some of the repairs you could be looking at — it could be $100 to $200 an acre changing out some of the stuff that’s worn out from the dry weather.”

Holland Farms has been open since the 1800s and has seen its fair share of droughts.

“We have put in irrigation systems here, so we do have the ability to irrigate some of our farm, which has helped save a lot of crops,” Holland said.

The sunshine is helping bring in visitors to Holland Farms, but a rainy day wouldn’t hurt.

“We definitely could use some of the rain,” Richardson said. “Any rain we see is going to be beneficial.”

The drought is statewide. Drought.gov says there are 1.5 million residents in areas of drought.