Farmers prepare for dry heat wave

DELMARVA – Farmers on the eastern shore are bracing for a hot and dry week ahead. With temperatures expected to be in the 90s until Sunday, and the only chances for rain coming late Saturday and Sunday. This coming after a wet start to the month.

Willards farmer Danny Hammond, who has been in the agriculture industry for 50 years, says there is no normal anymore when it comes to local weather patterns.

This next round of troubling weather comes after a hard year for the ag industry, after Salisbury saw about a 20 percent increase in rainfall in 2018.

“Last year we lost so much money, i mean tens of thousands, literally this farm lost money,” said Hammond. “If you get back-to-back, you’re getting a hole too deep to get out of.”

Snow Hill farmer Virgil Shockley gave us a crash course in how the forecasted weather can effect crops.

“The hotter it is the less pollination you’ll get on an ear. The drier it is you’ll also get less pollination. But it’s the heat that does more damage than the drought itself.”

This upcoming forecast gives Hammond flashbacks to a previous season 24 years ago, when the corn fields were as healthy as a horse, but the rain never came back.

“We lost $100,000, our crops burnt up. And of course, back then 1995 that would be like $200,000 now,” said Hammond.

It’s not just the corn. Hammond explained to us how the radical changes in weather have effected crops like soy beans, a crop that has failed to bloom at first because of wet weather, and now are stuck in the ground because the soil has dried up.

“Those soy beans, they will not come up right now if it does not rain, because the ground under the wheat is so dry,” said Hammond.

And consumers should also keep their eyes on the weather, because it could mean digging deeper in the wallet when you head to the produce aisle.

“If you want sweet corn, or you want lima beans, or you want anything vegetable, you might see the prices go up pretty good,” said Shockley.

The last time we saw noticeable rainfall was June 17, and it’s been almost a month since we saw rainfall over an inch, which last happened in Salisbury on June 2.