September 22, 2005

Dry conditions affecting Virginia crops

RICHMOND—It’s ironic, but Virginia farmers would welcome some of the excess moisture that’s been pounding Florida and the Gulf Coast states in recent weeks.

“Farmers in Southeastern Virginia learned decades ago to adapt their crop rotations to take advantage of seasonal tropical storms and the rainfall they bring,” said Jerry Stenger, Virginia’s assistant state climatologist. “Unfortunately, this year the bulk of the moisture has gone elsewhere.”

The week ending Sept. 18 was the fourth straight week without significant moisture for farmers. Hurricane Ophelia teased them, but then swept out to sea instead of unloading on parched cropland.

“The average temperature for the week was 74 degrees, which is six degrees above normal,” reported Kevin Barnes, director of the Virginia Agricultural Statistics Service. “Some farmers have already begun feeding their livestock hay because of drought conditions in pastures.”

As of Sept. 18, VASS estimated 77 percent of Virginia cropland did not have adequate topsoil moisture. That’s a steep decline from a month earlier, when 62 percent of the state had adequate topsoil moisture.

Because of the dry conditions farmers in eight Northern Virginia counties are already eligible for emergency disaster relief, as declared by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Fauquier County was deemed a primary agricultural disaster area on Sept. 12. Counties adjacent to Fauquier— Clarke, Culpeper, Loudoun, Prince William, Rappahannock, Stafford and Warren—also became eligible.

“We started getting some moisture after we submitted our request, but the biggest losses were in pastureland,” reported Bob Williamson, of the USDA’s Farm Service Agency office in Warrenton. “It was so dry we were feeding hay to livestock in the mid-summer. The first hay cutting was short, and the second cutting of hay was almost non-existent.”

Contact Stenger at 434-924-0548; Harding at 804-786-3500; or Norm Hyde, Virginia Farm Bureau, 804-290-1146.