Metro farmers struggle with heat, little rain in recent weeks

Farmers in Georgia are finding it challenging to keep their crops healthy and growing amid record heat and little rain in recent weeks.

“There’s a lot of farmers across our state suffering from a lack of rainfall,” said Jake Carter.

Carter is the owner of Southern Belle Farm, which is in McDonough in Henry County. For five generations his family has cultivated the 300-plus acre farm. It’s now dedicated to growing peaches, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and flowers.

His major fruit now is peaches, and he says they are thriving in drought-like conditions thanks to the drip irrigation system that keeps the trees watered.

“With the drip irrigation we are able to keep the crops alive, but nothing compares to a good steady rainfall to allow the roots to suck up all those nutrients,” Carter said to Channel 2′s Tom Regan.

Carter draws water from several wells and only uses county water for his restaurant and retail operations. Because of surging demand for water, Henry, and Coweta counties this week sent out notices to customers urging water conservation.

“No outdoor watering is allowed between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. during the day. We are seeing increased demands throughout the system and just out of an abundance of caution going into the Fourth of July holiday, we just want to make sure customers are aware,” said Henry County Water Authority representative Tara Brown.

Brown said some customers have experienced water pressure issues. The water authority has also purchased water from DeKalb County to serve customers in the far northside of Henry County.

“We have made adjustments in our distribution system to more effectively pump water to the north end of our county. Customers have called in about water pressure concerns but that should be worked out and we feel comfortable going into the holiday,” said Brown.