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Jul 21, 2007 10:06 am US/Eastern
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Drought Conditions Affecting Md. Food Supply
by Dennis Edwards
GREENSPRING VALLEY, Md. (WJZ) ―
Dry weather is bad news for the produce, the kind of bad news that's expected to last through the end of the year.
The produce looks great around Misty Valley Farms stand at Falls and Tufton roads in Greenspring Valley. Take a closer look and you won't see much corn or lima beans, but you will pay more for what's available.
"It's just harder to grow 'em. The ones that you have irrigation for, it's more money to irrigate 'em now. Where you don't have irrigation, they're coming in slower. It just snowballs like everything else. The price can't come down," said William "Oscar" Matthews, Misty Valley Farms.
A statewide drought survey took Charles, Calvert and St. Mary's counties from moderate to severe drought. With the exception of far western Maryland, the rest of the state is under a moderate drought. That means farmers are relying more on pond and stream pumping to irrigate their crops as fuel costs continue to soar.
"That electric has gone up over double, over double. So it's like $1,900, our electric bill was," Matthews said.
It's those costs that are being passed on to consumers with no relief in sight.
Farmers tell
Eyewitness News you can continue to expect dry conditions to affect produce prices through the fall and the end of the year.
Produce stands like Misty Valley are hoping for a few days of soaking rains. That's about the only way, they say, to avoid even higher prices on fall produce.
"You're gonna look at lower yield on your apples, your winter squashes and it should carry over into your pumpkins 'cause pumpkins have already been planted and they would be getting a nice size, but this year, you're probably looking at smaller pumpkins or if you can find them again, it's gonna be costly," he said.
State officials tell
Eyewitness News the agriculture community is in serious trouble. There's just not enough rain for crops to grow. Only time and the weather will tell how long that will last.
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