Farmers nurse their parched crops

CLAYTON -- Paul Otto, a 90-year-old farmer, is ready for the next rain, hoping to endure a drought that is withering crops across the state.

Otto has buckets lined up under the eaves of his house and culverts along barn roofs to collect runoff in barrels. For most of the past month, he has captured barely enough rainwater to wet a small plot of zinnias and some tomato plants. When no rainwater is left, Otto draws from a well.

"Nothing can live if you don't put water on it," says Otto, who can't recall a drier summer on his farm near Clayton.

Ryan Boyles, state climatologist, said drought-related agricultural losses this year could match or exceed those in 2002. Then, at the tail-end of four dry years, the state's combined agricultural losses from drought were about $398 million, according to N.C. Department of Agriculture estimates.

This year's drought has yet to deplete reservoirs that supply public drinking water, but it has hit farmers particularly hard during their peak growing season.

About a fifth or more of the state's soybean, cotton and potato crops are in "poor" or "very poor" condition, according to N.C. Department of Agriculture statistics. About a third of the state's corn and burley tobacco is similarly hurting. And about half of the state's pastures are in bad shape.

Rain low, heat high

Widespread showers Tuesday and Wednesday dumped about a half-inch to 2 inches of rain on the Triangle, according to the National Weather Service.

That offered some relief from weeks of very hit-and-miss sprinkles. More rain is expected Friday and through the weekend. But meteorologists say it's unlikely to lift the area out of a drought. In the past 30 days, much of the Triangle has received 1 to 3 inches less than the 5 inches it normally gets for that period.

And for many crops, serious damage has already been done.

Otto's wilted squash quit producing. His onions, usually as big as baseballs, came out golf-ball size. And new turnips and collards he sowed have not emerged.

"The seed won't germinate," Otto said, "because it gets so hot in the day it cooks the sprout."

The outlook is grim, too, for corn that Otto's grandson and granddaughter grow commercially on his 48-acre farm. Otto pointed to cornstalks with twisted leaves.

"It's trying to make an ear," he said, "but it won't."

Corn yield is estimated to be down about 40 to 50 percent this year in Johnston County, said Bryant Spivey, county extension director. Corn requires a lot of water for its kernels to fill out.

Even the more drought-resistant flue-cured tobacco has taken a blow. Plants are smaller, leaf counts lower and quality harder to ensure. Production on the lucrative crop in the state's top-ranking tobacco county could be down 15 percent this year because of dry weather, Spivey said.

Thirsty farms

Although some farmers have private wells and ponds or other water sources, most don't have enough water or equipment to reach all their crops, Spivey said.

North Carolina farmers don't irrigate much because of the cost.

"We rely on Mother Nature," said Herb Vanderberry, the state's U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics director.

The situation has become grave for the state's livestock producers.

Cattle farmer John M. Langdon of McGee's Crossroads said he has already lost about half of his annual hay production. And parched pastures have produced less forage for his grazing cattle. That has forced Langdon and other cattle farmers to feed their cows hay they just harvested.

"That hay should not be touched until Thanksgiving," he said.

Langdon expects that by winter he'll need to buy hay from out of state or sell some of his prized purebred and Angus herd. "What is the smarter thing to do?" he asked. "Sell cows or buy hay?"

Water rationing

Otto will celebrate when he gets a downpour.

He spends three hours each morning and evening watering his garden by hand. He takes pails of water and puts a dipper-full on each hill of tomatoes, okra, or any plant that still looks like it has a chance.

Standing next to a row of onions with folded-over, shriveled leaves, he asked, "Have you ever seen anything dry up like that?

"Maybe this winter," he said, "I'll have some big onions."