The Washington Post | By Anita Huslin | August 14, 2002
Gov. Parris N. Glendening yesterday asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to declare all but two Maryland counties agricultural disaster areas, a designation that would make farmers eligible for low-interest loans to cover their losses.
Maryland's request came after Glendening (D) reviewed projected crop harvests for August. The state is the latest of a growing number seeking to offset anticipated crop losses from the deepening drought in the Atlantic coastal plain, the western Corn Belt, Great Plains and the Ohio Valley. USDA officials have declared disasters in nearly one-fourth of the states this summer as apples and peaches have baked on the trees, acres of soybeans and wheat sprouted and then died in the relentless heat, and corn withered to animal feed.
In the mid-Atlantic region, farmers who can irrigate have been doing so as long as their ponds and wells allow, but the drought's toll continues to rise.
"It is extremely severe. . . . Some areas are the worst they've been since the dust bowl," said Jim Little, administrator for the USDA's Farm Service Agency, which disburses crop subsidies and emergency relief funds to farmers.
USDA officials have declared 606 counties in 32 states, including seven in Virginia, to be agricultural disaster areas.
Fourteen more requests by Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) are pending, officials said.
In the Shenandoah Valley, the worst-hit area of the state, farmers say that springs have dried up for the first time in 25 years.
The Roanoke Valley's conditions are almost as bad, with hay and other crops gone completely brown.
"Corn that should be as tall as a man is belt-buckle height," said Kevin Hall, a spokesman for Warner. "Ears are small and are not market-ready, and are only good for feed but not for human consumption."
The Maryland Agriculture Statistics Service anticipates that the state's corn production will be 34 percent less than last year; soybean yields will be 22 percent lower; and tobacco plants will produce 100 pounds less per acre.
Across the region, farmers are driving to extension service offices with samples of their crops to have scientists measure the amount of nutrients left in the wizened plants.
Because fertilizers concentrate in the lower parts of plants, farmers need to know how much nitrate the plants have taken in. High concentrations can kill livestock unless the silage is blended with other feed.
"It's a compounding situation," said Tony Evans, emergency coordinator for the Maryland Department of Agriculture. "The damage can increase geometrically every day that it's hot and there's no rain."
The effects are being felt in all but Garrett and Allegany counties in Western Maryland.
In Southern Maryland, roadside produce stands have disappeared as farmers have run out of irrigation water and vegetable harvests have languished.
"We're heading down a bad path here," said Pamela King, University of Maryland agricultural extension service officer for Charles County. "Unfortunately, unless we get some hurricane rains, it's not going to replenish the water tables, and so we'll be living from storm to storm. It's a pretty severe situation, and right now we don't see the end."
Staff writer Ian Shapira contributed to this report.The Washington Post:
