By By Lydia Grimes
Recent rains have been a big help to area farmers, local extension agents said.
"The crops are looking good now," said Olin Farrior, Escambia County Extension agent. "The scattered showers we have been getting are helping many areas. I think the cooler spring has had a lot to do with it. The wheat crop has really been good and they usually are with a dryer spring. We have five to 6,000 acres of wheat planted and some of it was planted later than usual, which helped."
Farrior said that most of Escambia County's agricultural areas are in the western part of the county around Atmore, and that city has gotten more rain than in Brewton.
"There are some areas south of Brewton and some to the east that have gotten a little more rain," he said. "Peanuts are looking good here in our area, but crops farther north in Butler County and in the eastern counties are not as good."
Much of the rain the county has received has been small showers.
"A lot of factors enter into how good the crops are," Farrior said. "These spotty showers have helped some areas better than others. There is a place north of Atmore on Alabama 21 where the corn on one side of the road is looking good and the corn on the other side is not looking so good. The difference is that one side was planted a couple of weeks earlier."