Heat wave takes toll on Carroll County farmers

At just two years old, Orali has’t experienced many heat waves.

“How about that yummy peach? Put that up there,” her grandmother, Terri Keel, instructed her as she got ready to check out at the Baugher’s Market in Westminster.

The lure of Baugher’s fresh fruit and temperatures topping out in the 80s finally drew them out of hiding from the sun.

“If there’s not water and a pool or something nearby, we’ve been pinned up in the house,” said Keel.

With the heat index climbing well above the 100-degree mark for what seems like weeks, Terri is not alone.

The family-friendly farm, which typically draws two thousand people a day to its orchards on the weekends has seen that cut in half.

“For us, up here at this market, our bread and butter is our pick your own traffic, and this heat recently has made that wane,” said Nick Wilhide, “No one wants to come out and pick peaches or cherries or blackberries or whatever in a hundred-degree heat."

The high temperatures have also played havoc with the crops.

The blackberries, peaches and apples are coming early, and while the drier weather produces a sweeter fruit, it hurts the size and the yield of the crops—-the bulk of which are sold on the wholesale market throughout the state.

Not to mention the increased costs of irrigation to keep them from drying out.

“We spent a lot of time and work trying to get water to all of the crops,” said Dottie Dunn, “We can’t get it to all of them.”

With the heat wave returning over the weekend, the message is simple.

“Pray and do a little rain dance for us,” added Dunn, “We need rain really bad.”

If children like Orali are going to keep enjoying the fruits of their labor.

“Are you going to eat some of those peaches?” the market cashier asked the little girl.

“She loves them,” replied her grandmother.