‘Not Just A Job’: Drought Jeopardizes Way Of Life For Eastern Panhandle Farmers

Down the backroads of Jefferson County, plywood signs point drivers to Town & Country Nursery, a local farmstand just minutes away from where co-owner Bob Tabb grew up.

Like the signs tell you, the farmstand boasts produce of all kinds, from peaches to eggplants to tomatoes bigger than your fist.

Tabb’s family has worked the land in this region for more than a century. Between “milking cows seven days a week” on the dairy farm of his youth to growing crops on property of his own, Tabb doesn’t see farming as a mere means to an end. It’s a tradition that connects him to the lush fields he calls home.

“Agriculture and farming is not just a job. It’s not just an occupation,” he said. “It’s a way of life.”

But life on the farm looks less green this season, because West Virginia is experiencing a statewide dry spell. The Eastern Panhandle has been the hardest hit, experiencing what the United States Drought Monitor has deemed an “extreme drought.”

Tabb’s corner of Jefferson County is under what appears to be “the second-worst drought in 130 years,” according to Agriculture Commissioner of West Virginia Kent Leonhardt.

During a typical July, the region would receive around 3.5 inches of rain, Leonhardt said. This month, that figure sits at roughly 0.3 inches — less than a tenth of the typical rainfall.

Conditions are not much better in surrounding counties.

“The rest of the Eastern Panhandle is, I’m told, [experiencing] the third-worst drought in the last 130 years,” Leonhardt said. “Farmers experience an awful lot of uncertainty, and weather is one of them.”

That uncertainty makes things harder, but isn’t career ending for someone with years of irrigation practice like Tabb.

A squat, turquoise water tank sits at the center of his property, connected to water lines that run alongside each crop. These tubes dispense low-pressure water at a regular interval, and help Tabb keep the soil hydrated all season long.

“Right now, we’re pumping anywhere from 25,000 to 30,000 gallons of water per day to keep everything going,” he said. “If we didn’t have irrigation, we’d be shut down.”

While techniques like these can keep Tabb’s farm afloat, they require both practice and money — things that can be harder to come by for newer or smaller farms. And when a summer’s harvest makes up the base of your annual income, there’s not much room for error.

Farmers can get insurance for their crops, but Tabb said it doesn’t cover the full cost of a harvest gone wrong. Sometimes, the state or federal government steps in to support farmers, but this often comes months later, once the financial burden of a faulty season has already been felt.

“It’s a challenge,” he said. “Like I said, for us it’s a way of life.”

Jeremy Geiger, a senior service hydrologist for the National Weather Service in Baltimore, said the drought’s impact is touching areas even beyond West Virginia.

Since parts of Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. share waterways with the Mountain State, the lack of rainfall is a risk for them, too.

“The Potomac River is running relatively low in terms of stage heights and also overall flow of water, which is causing some upstream concerns for water resource issues,” Geiger said.

For example, the Washington, D.C. metro area pulls “drinking water and other general water” from the Potomac River, so a long-term drought could put residents in a tricky spot.

Geiger said conditions like these are typically addressed on the state level. Last week, Gov. Jim Justice issued a state of emergency declaration for all 55 counties in West Virginia over a statewide lack of precipitation.

“This drought has plagued West Virginia farmers, putting them at risk of losing everything,” Justice said. “We cannot and will not stand by and watch our hardworking farmers suffer from this severe lack of rain.”

On the state level, Leonhardt said agriculture officials are looking into the best ways to support farmers on the ground. One challenge is that these needs change from farm to farm.

“Everybody’s a little bit different,” he said. “The crop farmers have a different need than the livestock farmers and the orchardists.”

As a first step, Leonhardt encouraged farmers to lean on resources already in place. For example, with a state of emergency declaration, West Virginia farmers can now access emergency resources from the Farm Service Agency, a branch of the United States Department of Agriculture.

The agency provides financial assistance for livestock needs, crop losses and more, plus emergency loans to help recover from financial deficits.

Leonhardt also pointed to the regional conservation districts around the state, which provide local water conservation and environmental resources. These organizations have already tapped into their emergency funds, and have programs to connect farmers with water tanks and irrigation support, he said.

From the perspective of the West Virginia Department of Agriculture, this summer’s drought doesn’t seem to mark a long-term trend. Leonhardt said in recent years there have been more wet summers than dry ones.

Still, the sudden dry spell is pushing agriculture officials to build upon drought supports already in place to prepare for future issues, he said.

Tabb said this assistance is helpful, but that most farmers are still crossing their fingers that a change in the weather is on the horizon.

“Trying to rely on the natural rainfall — We had a really wet spring, and now it’s been a really hot, dry summer,” he said. “It’s been spotty.”

But in the meantime, Tabb will be tapping into irrigation techniques to carry on the work his family began more than 100 years ago: tending to the land, and providing the local community with fresh, farmed goods.

“I’ve been doing this for quite a while,” he said. “I know enough about what to do and when to do it that we’ve had pretty good success.”

For a full list of drought assistance resources recommended by the West Virginia Department of Agriculture, visit the agency’s website.