Columbus County farmers continue to face severe drought

COLUMBUS COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Farmers in Columbus County continue to see severe drought conditions, even as some rainfall made its way to the area over the past week.

Last week, the US Department of Agriculture declared a natural disaster in the state.  

Columbus County was noted in that declaration as the worst in the state.  

The drought is affecting several different crops, but farmers say some of the worst is soybeans and corn.  

Many fields in the county have been declared a total loss, with almost all corn farmers just hoping to break even with government assistance and insurance. 

Lydia Miles is the Cooperative Extension Field Crops Agent in Columbus County. 

She tells me what we’ve been hearing from other counties, that this is the worst drought they’ve seen in years, which is made even worse by low wholesale prices. 

“This is the worst drought I’ve seen,” Miles said. “Looking back, what I saw was in 2009 there was one that was close, but because commodity prices were higher, it didn’t impact as much as this drought does.”  

Although other counties in our area have now lessened to a moderate drought due to recent rainfall, most of Columbus is still classified as severe.