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VA Farmers See No End On Immediate Horizon For Draught

July 6, 2010
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Local farmers say they haven't gotten meaningful rain on their crops since mid-May. This corn in Leesburg, Virginia should be a foot taller than it is.
Jonathan Wilson
Local farmers say they haven't gotten meaningful rain on their crops since mid-May. This corn in Leesburg, Virginia should be a foot taller than it is.

By Jonathan Wilson

We may be just a few days into this latest heatwave, but farmers in the area have been suffering from a drought since the beginning of May.

Corey Childs is walking along the edge of a cornfield in Leesburg, Virginia, on grass that's so brown and dry it almost looks scorched.

The real story here is the corn: the stalks are pale green, with leaves curled up. Childs says that's because the corn is trying to minimize evaporation, and he says it'll take more than a few storms to recover.

"We need a few days of really slow, really ground-penetrating rain to really fix this," he says.

Childs says it's still too early to tell how much this year's crop will suffer. But on the bright side? Less moisture often means sweeter corn.

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