What Virginia's current drought advisories means for local farmers (2024)

Aaron Goode has been on a farm his entire 68 years of living and has seen his fair share of droughts, but he has not seen one with this strong a vengeance in quite some time.

“I’ve seen a lot of droughts, but this one, it’s getting pretty bad,” said Goode, the owner of Chesterfield Berry Farm in Moseley. “We’re just hoping that we’ll get a rain here in the next week or so.”

During the ongoing heat wave in Virginia, very little rainfall has arrived to counter the high temperatures, resulting in less-than-ideal conditions for crops. Goode added that consistent winds have caused problems by taking moisture out of the ground.

According to last week’s U.S. Drought Monitor Map, a section of Virginia beginning in Franklin and Pittsylvania Counties and stretching northeast to Loudoun and Fairfax Counties is experiencing a moderate drought. Most of the rest of the state has been classified as abnormally dry.

On Monday, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality issued a drought warning advisory for 12 counties in the Shenandoah Valley and Northern Virginia. Additionally, a drought watch advisory was issued for 95 counties and cities throughout the state. According to DEQ, a drought watch is meant to help Virginians prepare for potential drought, while a warning means “significant drought is imminent.”

Amid the dry conditions, a large brush fire broke out Monday evening near New Market and Messer roads in Varina, causing two road closures. A second brush fire was reported Tuesday near Old Washington Highway and Interstate 295 in Glen Allen.

Heat wave settles across U.S.

The conditions come amid soaring temperatures across the country in recent weeks. Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia had record heat over the weekend.

Even though the Richmond region is only under a drought watch, the weather conditions are already affecting farms in the area.

At Chesterfield Berry Farm, most of the crops are in good health because of irrigation, but the eight acres of field corn that make up the farm’s corn maze are struggling without a watering system in place.

The corn maze runs from mid-September through the end of October; after that, the grains are used for animal feed, grocery store products and ethanol.

“We’re probably going to put pipes in and water it,” Goode said. “But we’re waiting a few days hoping we’ll get some rain.”

After heavy amounts of rain during May — which ironically was not good for the farm’s strawberries during their peak season — Goode figured that the weather would balance out and go in the other direction.

To maintain a healthy supply of products, the farm uses a drip irrigation system for about 70% of the crops, with the water being pulled from an adjacent lake. Other products such as sweet corn are watered with impact sprinklers.

But according to Goode, the rainfall provides a needed assist to the farm.

“With the rainfall, you usually get the cooler temperatures when it comes in and it just seems to do more for the crops,” he said. “Irrigation’s okay, but it’s not quite the same as having rain.”

Goode added that solely relying on irrigation is more expensive and labor-intensive.

“It just creates that much more work,” Goode said. “If you can get a rain in, you can not irrigate for two or three days or something that gives you a little more of a break. And if you don’t have irrigation, your stuff’s suffering and you can lose your crops.”

Stress from lack of rainfall

Alec Butner, a forecaster with the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Wakefield, said the NWS received reports from farmers in Emporia and Greensville County about their crops showing signs of stress from the lack of rainfall.

Butner said there is potential for scattered showers and storms later in the week, but no widespread or drought-relieving rain.

Goode said with the high temperatures, his crops would need at least three-quarters of an inch of rain to have any significant effect.

“We’re irrigating a lot, but the thing is, you don’t know how long it’s going to continue before you get rain,” Goode said. “It could be a really bad drought, or it could end, you just don’t know.”