"It's more than just loss of a crop, or part of a crop, but also the delayed planting because you can't get into the field to plant," said Don Martin, state agricultural statistician with the Hawaii Agricultural Statistics Service. "Prolonged wetness also can cause waterborne diseases that will affect the crops down the road."
Since some of the fields are in standing water, many farmers can't even see the extent of the latest damage, said Martin, who placed the damage estimate from last week's deluge at between $300,000 and $500,000.
"We've been calling around but a lot of the bigger farmers don't know yet," he said.
The Fat Law Farm in Kunia lost three acres of basil last week. "That's about $100,000 lost," said Tim Law, co-owner of the farm. There is another five acres of basil planted, and cucumber and papaya plantings, but Law said doesn't know the extent of the latest damage yet.
At Kunia Farms, a new potato crop was ready to go into the ground before the downpour started. Kunia Farms had been making a successful start in supplying potatoes to the local Frito-Lay plant. Now, there'll be a delay because all the land preparation must be redone.
It's too bad that there is a delay, said Joe McCarthy, Frito-Lay operations manager, "but we're somewhat thankful there wasn't a crop in the ground."
Martin said that the leafy crops are hurt the most, from the water and silting.
Other crops, such as pineapple, can hold up better unless a new planting has been made just before the rains. But he added that some of the crops may bounce back after a few good days of sunny weather.
Specialist herb grower Nalo Farms Herbs in Waimanalo estimated its loss at $30,000 this week. Dean Okimoto, owner of the seven-acre farm, also said that he may have to delay planting a week or more. "We may just miss all our Christmas season again. That will increase the damage," he said.
Meanwhile, Larry Jefts, the largest independent farmer on Oahu, has not seen any damage as yet, according to John McHugh, research horticulturist and entomologist for Jefts. Jefts has watermelons, bell peppers, onions and cabbage planted without any damage, he said.
"We hadn't planned for 20 inches of rain but so far we're doing just fine," McHugh said.