The U-S drought monitor now classifies 71-percent of the state as experiencing ‘exceptional drought,’ the most severe condition on the scale. That’s up from 61-percent just last week, with the driest conditions in middle and east Tennessee.
Tennessee and Alabama have shared the title of ‘most drought-stricken’ over the past few months, but farmers here argue that agriculture conditions are worse in Tennessee.
The Tennessee Farm Bureau’s Joe Pearson says a late Easter freeze hit this state harder and farmers haven’t been able to recover.
“Some of that will be a long-term impact, especially in the livestock and forestry. Some of the forestry folks say their losses will be a year or so showing up.”
Agricultural damage in Tennessee for the year so far is estimated by the farm bureau at 850-million dollars. Pearson says that doesn’t include the pinch it’s put on cattle farmers who’ve had to sell off herds because of hay prices or projected losses in multi-year crops.
Tennessee’s Congressional delegation is working now, along with those of Alabama and Georgia, to secure disaster assistance for farmers across the Southeast, who’ve experienced the worst growing season in memory.
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