
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 16, 1993                   TAG: 9307160125
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: DAVID REED ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WEATHER DEVASTATES MANY CROPS

The hot, dry weather has ruined much of Virginia's corn crop, reduced vegetable yields and caused at least three counties to seek disaster declarations because of crop losses, agriculture officials said.

King and Queen County, where some farms haven't had significant rainfall in six weeks, mailed a request for a natural-disaster declaration to Gov. Douglas Wilder on Thursday, said Cooperative Extension agent Michael Day.

Middlesex County and King William County plan to make the same request so farmers can get low-interest loans, Day said.

"We just need a good-old sod soaker for two or three days to get the water down into the roots," said Mahlon Rudy, state director of the Agriculture Stabilization and Conservation Service.

But some areas of the coastal plain and the southern piedmont have lost at least 50 percent of their potential corn crop, even if it rains, said Daniel Brann, a Virginia Tech extension grain specialist.

Some of the corn crop in the Blue Ridge Mountains and farther west also may be lost if the abnormally hot and dry weather persists, he said.

King and Queen County has lost 75 percent of its 11,000-acre corn crop already, Day said. Some farmers who have invested more than $200,000 in this year's crop may be forced to quit farming, he said. "I don't know how they can snap back from losing this much money."

Because pastures are drying up, King and Queen County also requested permission to graze and plant hay on land not designated for farming.

On the Eastern Shore, farmers anticipate harvesting only about two-thirds of the vegetables they normally pick because of stunted growth, said Toni Radler, a state agriculture department spokeswoman.

Yields from soybean and tobacco crops also could suffer if it doesn't rain soon, agriculture officials said.

Because they are worried by the lack of rain, many farmers aren't planting extra soybeans to meet a higher demand caused by crop losses in the flood-ravaged Midwest, Radler said. She called it a "lost opportunity."

by CNB