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Heat, drought leave farmers hurting all over the Fredericksburg region Date published: 7/8/2010
BY FRANK DELANO, PORTSIA SMITH, ROBIN KNEPPER AND JONAS BEALS
Keith Balderson, a Virginia Cooperative Extension agent in Essex County, calls this summer's heat and dry conditions "the worst I've seen in the 22 years I've been working here." The situation is so bad in Caroline County that retired Extension Agent Mac Saphir has urged supervisors there to declare a drought emergency, which they are expected to do next week. From the Northern Neck to Culpeper County, Fredericksburg-area farmers are struggling in the face of extreme heat and a lack of rain that stretches back to the spring. "We were short of rain in April, really short in May, and June was Last month, the center measured 1.29 inches of rain, compared with 5.16 inches last June. Average annual rainfall at the center is about 43 inches. So far this year, the total precipitation is almost three inches below normal despite a good start from winter snowstorms. "It's the distribution, not the total, that's the problem," Pitman said. Saphir, who spent 21 years as the extension agent for Caroline before retiring recently, said the turnaround in soil conditions is one of the quickest he has ever seen. He said 60 percent to 80 percent of the county's corn crop is already lost. "If we get one inch of rain per week for the next three months, we probably would save half of the soybean crop. But for corn, it's too late," he said. Essex's Balderson said farmers in the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula are facing significant losses of corn and soybeans. Mediocre yields of recently harvested wheat and barley have added to farmers' woes, he said. He said too much moisture from winter snows and rains may have hurt the grains' ability to withstand the heat and dry weather that came in the spring. A majority of farmers carry crop insurance that "might pay enough to carry them through for another year," he said.
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