Northeast Texas crops face hail, cold temps

By LYNN MONTGOMERY | East Texas Edition

April 17, 2003 -- Spring time weather caused a little havoc in and about the Northeast Texas area April 5 - April 9.

Hail storms and freezes hit farmers' crops, but as of presstime April 14, few official reports were filed.

Several thousand acres of wheat in southern Hunt County were damaged by a hailstorm that passed through on April 5, according to Jim Swart, Extension entomologist at Texas A&M University-Commerce (TAMU). Damage ranged from as little as 5 percent to a total loss.

"The worst area we have seen included a 15-mile radius around the Caddo Mills area," noted Jim Swart, Extension entomologist-IPM based in Commerce.

Several Farm Service Agencies across the region cited reports of damage, "but nothing major has been reported" was the general concensus.

Shane Wallace with Wallace Crop Insurance in Bonham said, "Several clients have called with crop damage, but I have only had one isolated claim as of April 10."

As far as the peach crop, Galen Logan, Camp County Extension agent, said right now it is hard to say how much the cold temperatures, recorded early in the week of April 7, will affect harvest yields.

"The freeze hurt us pretty good. We are still looking at percentages on the damage. We will have a scattered crop, but there will be peaches," Logan stated from his office in Pittsburg.

Logan added there were reports the freeze didn't just hurt peaches in the East Texas area, but the peach crop in Fredericksburg and the Hill Country also suffered.

"So far, so good," is the word from Smith County peach grower Darren Rozell. Even though he did loose some of his crop due to the cold temperatures, Rozell said his main crop of 4,000 trees in the New Harmony area survived.