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.
In Orange County, Extension Agent Steve Hopkins reports significant problems with pastures and hay, and said corn and soybeans are also getting battered.
"The extreme heat is doing as much damage as the drought on corn," he said.
Ten days ago, parts of Orange got 1 to 1 inches of rain at a critical time, and those crops are doing much better, Hopkins said. "It's really spotty in this county," he said.
Some corn farmers in Spotsylvania and Stafford counties are at a crucial point. Rain this weekend could save an otherwise disappointing season.
"You can hear a little rattle when the breeze blows through the corn," said Mike Silver, who operates Silver Ridge Farm in southern Stafford with his father, Jerry. "You usually don't hear that until harvest time."
In North Stafford, Cindi Causey installed an irrigation system at her Potomac Point Winery two years ago after consecutive droughts wiped out her Cabernet Franc crop. She irrigates her five acres of vines at night.
The heat has benefits for wine-making, but still takes its toll on the plants, Causey said.
"You can tell," she said. "They're wilting."
Bernard Boyle Jr. of Warsaw, who raises 100 acres of vegetables for Garner's Produce in Westmoreland County, said one diesel irrigation pump burns 50 gallons of fuel a day. But he doesn't skip a day of watering.
"It's getting expensive," he said, "but you've got to do what you've got to do."
Frank Delano: 804/761-4300
Email: fpdelano@gmail.com