Late freeze causes damage for Ky. crops

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Western Kentucky farmer Scott Wilferd's wheat crop was shaping up as one of his best until a late freeze turned lush fields into a patchwork of damaged plants.

Now he's hoping to salvage a harvest from his 800 acres that had been thriving from a stretch of warm temperatures until the sudden turnaround sent temperatures plunging.

"At best, if we have good conditions from now on, we are seeing at least just half a crop," the Graves County farmer said in a telephone interview Monday.

Farmers are still assessing damage from frigid temperatures earlier this month that harmed a cross section of Kentucky's agricultural sector - from fruit orchards and vineyards to grain and hay fields.

It's too soon to put a firm number on losses, but the damage appears to exceed $45 million, said Bill Clary, a spokesman for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.

"It's extremely diverse and widespread," he said.

Wheat farmers lost a "fairly large amount" of their crop from the freeze, and the first alfalfa cutting will be significantly reduced, Clary said. Most of the peach and apple crops were ruined, central Kentucky vineyards took a beating, blueberry and blackberry producers suffered damage and a Carlisle County farmer reported losing an entire pecan crop, Clary said.

Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer recently asked Gov. Ernie Fletcher to seek federal disaster relief.

A statewide crop report issued Monday by the National Agricultural Statistics Services' Kentucky field office reflected the sudden downturn for the wheat crop.

According to the report, 64 percent of the wheat was rated poor or very poor. Another 20 percent was considered fair, 15 percent good and 1 percent excellent. Just two weeks ago, slightly more than three-fourths of the crop was rated good or excellent.

The state's barley also was hard hit by the freeze, with 88 percent of the crop rated very poor or poor, according to the crop report Monday.

The Kentucky Small Grain Growers Association has said the damage could be the worst in 20 years. Kentucky's wheat crop was valued at $67.5 million in 2005 and $78.4 million last year.

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