JOHNSTON COUNTY - Congressman Bob Etheridge bent over a parched soybean field Monday, plucked one of farmer Jerry Jordan's withered stalks and cracked open a crunchy brown pod.

"This one's totally dry," he said, holding it up. "There's nothing in it." He pointed at another wispy stalk. "See that one? It's dead."

Etheridge surveyed nine acres of Jordan's agricultural agony, shook his head and declared: "This is pretty much pure drought."

For many Triangle residents, this year's unrelenting, record drought means sacrificing lush lawns and luxurious showers. For thousands of North Carolina farmers, it means financial losses, worries about next year and possible bankruptcy.

"It's a lot more severe than the average person knows," said Etheridge, a Lillington Democrat whose son still works a Harnett County family farm. "The people who provide the food and fiber for America are facing one of their toughest years in a long time."

Etheridge plans to highlight the plight of Tar Heel farmers Thursday at a hearing of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee. He and dozens of lawmakers from both parties are pushing to include drought-recovery farm grants in an Iraq war spending bill.

The prospects are uncertain. President Bush has said he'll veto anything that exceeds his request. And Congress has reinstated a rule requiring a way to pay for new spending.

But, as Etheridge noted, Congress has attached farm relief to military spending bills before.

It's defense, too

"Our food supply is part of our national defense," he said.

Members of Congress often go along with disaster relief elsewhere, because next year their voters might be the ones facing a drought, flood, hurricane, earthquake or other calamity.

Farmers face several kinds of peril. This year's cotton, corn, soybean, peanut and hay crops are coming up woefully short. The state is expected to produce almost 40 percent less in soybeans this year than last, and less than half as much cotton.

That means that even farmers with insurance will make much less money -- if they make any -- to spend on next year's crops.

A severe hay shortage is forcing livestock farmers to spend more on winter feed or sell their herds at depressed prices.

Some farmers switched this year from cotton to corn, hoping to cash in on the ethanol boom -- only to have the drought wipe out their crops.

"We cringe a little more each month, because it's going from bad to worse," said Brian Long, a spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

The drought's economic effects threaten to reach far beyond farm families. Already, less produce and fewer varieties of it have been available at farmers markets. Higher grocery store prices could follow.

"It's the worst I've ever seen," said Don Nicholson, a state regional agronomist. "My mother's 76. She talks about how bad it was in the early '50s. That's the only reference point I have."

Jerry Jordan says he'll hang on. But he'd be surprised to break even this year as costs rise and his yields of soybeans, tobacco and sweet potatoes plummet.

"We'll try to pick 'em if it covers our fuel cost," he said. "If they don't turn out, I'll probably just quit on 'em. We need rain for next year's crops -- a lot of rain."

It's been so dry and hot this year that Jordan's irrigation ponds long ago went dry.

"You just don't have any options," he said. "You just sit there and watch it die."