HALLSBORO, N.C. (WECT) – Most counties in North Carolina are still under dry or moderate drought conditions as of Tuesday, July 9. Some areas including most of Columbus County, are listed in severe drought conditions by the US Drought Monitor.

That includes Whiteville, Chadbourn, Fair Bluff, Lake Waccamaw and Hallsboro. As a result, farmers are hurting in many of those rural areas.

Seth Ward with S & T Ward Farms tells me he has never seen conditions like this in all his years of farming.

Ward and other North Carolina growers and farmers are seeing their crops dry up from a lack of rain.

“The corn crop to date is pretty much history,” said Ward.

Ward says he has never seen anything like it, and a lot of fellow farmers haven’t either. He says it’s a financial burden no farmer can prepare for.

“It will take years to recover from the financial impact that this drought is causing this year,” said Ward.

Ward says corn stalks should be around six to seven feet tall this time of year, but with the drought, they’re only standing at about three to four feet.

“It’s just been devastating to the crops,” said Ward.

It’s also been devastating to farmer’s wallets.

Ward says to plant just one acre of corn, it costs roughly $700. He won’t get that money back if he can’t sell his crop.

Klaus Albertin with the North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council says the timing could not be worse.

“June is kind of that critical period — especially for corn — where if they don’t get rain, that corn or crop may never grow corn ears, [farmers] may lose the entire crop,” said Albertin. He says the state of North Carolina only received about a quarter of the rain that it usually does in June.

But Ward isn’t giving up hope for some much-needed relief.

“All we can do is pray for rain and keep faith that one day it will rain and we’ll see our way through it some way,” said Ward.

Ward also grows soybeans, another crop taking a hit during this drought.

Ward says if the region gets some much-needed rainfall in the next couple of weeks, the soybeans may be salvageable, though the corn crop, may be a different story.

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