Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 25, 1993 TAG: 9307250011
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Reports from counties last week have grown more dire, said Donald G. Blankenship, deputy commissioner of the Virginia Department of Agriculture. "If conditions merit a declaration statewide, that's the way we'll go," he said.
The state did not have enough data last week to declare the entire state a drought disaster, Blankenship said. "But we know it's bad all over," he said.
As of Friday, the only region with a severe drought was Southwest Virginia, where the burley tobacco crop is baking in the heat. That's based on an index used by climatologists to assess drought conditions ranging from mild to severe in each of the state's six districts.
But agriculture officials said isolated areas of the state also are experiencing severe droughts. In King and Queen County, local officials have declared a drought disaster.
In contrast to other drought years when vast regions were affected, this drought is sometimes isolated to individual farms or sections because of scattered thunderstorms, agricultural officials said.
South Carolina and Maryland so far have declared statewide drought disasters. If the U.S. Department of Agriculture concurs, farmers in those states will be eligible for low-interest loans.
Virginia officials consider the drought only an agricultural problem because the lack of rain has not caused widespread drinking water shortages.
Corn and soybeans - Virginia's two important summer cash crops - have been the hardest hit. But agriculture officials said they had not yet made a financial assessment of the crop damage.
David Coleman, a grain merchant for Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, said many areas "are hurting for rain. It's extremely spotty, but there are going to be economic troubles for some farmers."
Coleman said parts of Middlesex, King and Queen, and King William counties have been without rain for about eight weeks.
The Virginia Agricultural Statistics Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture said 42 percent of the corn in Virginia is in poor condition, with 45 percent classified as fair and 13 percent in good or excellent shape. The amount of corn in poor condition doubled in one week.
Coleman said as the hot and rainless days continue, soybeans will suffer more damage. The crop report also said 43 percent of the soybeans slipped from fair to poor.
Vegetables on large farms and in back-yard gardens also have been hurt by the hot weather and lack of rain in July, said Jim A. Lawson, deputy state statistician.
Blankenship said the state Agriculture Department is encouraging the Board of Agriculture and extension agents to get localities in their areas to make declaration of drought resolutions, which are forwarded to the governor.
The governor can approve and send the drought requests to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, making those farmers eligible for low-interest loans.
by CNB