As heatwave begins local farmers are impacted greatly

DELMARVA. – Delmarva’s agriculture industry is bracing for the summer’s first heat wave, and it only gets worse from here.

Worcester County farmer, Virgil Shockley, spoke for many farmers when he said he just wasn’t expecting it to hit this soon.

“You’re getting a heat wave June, where you’re normally getting a heat wave in July. This is about two weeks early on the heat wave cycle than we normally would have it,” Shockley said.

But with it making its debut so early in the season, WMDT meteorologist, Jake Grant, said this sets the precedent for the rest of the summer, creating an unfortunate reality for farmers like Shockley.

“It’s expected to be a very hot summer over the next couple months, so that’s not good news,” Grant said. “As the drought conditions continue to worsen, typically these are our dryest months anyways, and we didn’t get a whole lot of rain beforehand, and with that, it can cause those bigger issues.”

The heat, coupled with little to no rain in the forecast, creates a nightmare for Shockley.

“This is a matter of people losing a lot of money,” Shockley said.

And he warns if the dry spell continues and the temps continue to rise, and so will the cost of doing business.

“Everything that farmers produce here on the shore, corn, beans, goes into the poultry feed. What we don’t grow, they have to bring in from somewhere else,” Shockley said.