By admin 
HIGH POINT, N.C. (WGHP) — North Carolina farmers in the Piedmont Triad are welcoming the rain, saying it’s finally making a dent in the weeks-long drought.
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For weeks, farmers say certain crops have struggled, and they have been uncertain about harvests. Many have relied on irrigation systems and ponds to support their crops.
Rhonda Ingram at Ingram’s Family Farms said their main crop of strawberries thankfully do well in the dry conditions, and they have a strong irrigation system for those fields. But for their blackberries, blueberries and muscadine plants, it’s a different story.
“Muscadines. Even though we have irrigation here, that’s one of the crops that we cannot successfully irrigate … Even things like our blueberries, they’re not under good irrigation,” Ingram said.
Dry Spring
A light rain in early May broke a few weeks with no rain, but most farmers said that was not nearly enough to make a difference. Ingram said talking with other farms, the dry spring has been hard on a lot of produce, like tomatoes and corn.
“All your field crops were really suffering if they were being able to plant them at all,” Ingram said.
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At the end of the day, a good rain now and then is needed, even with a good irrigation system.
“We can water all we want, but what falls out of the sky sometimes is a much greater benefit than what we’re able to apply by drip irrigation,” Ingram said.
Triad farmers who are working to supply summer produce will find the rain a welcome sight after weeks without.
“It’s making everybody’s crop,” Ingram said.
More Rain Needed
There are still opportunities to pick strawberries at some Triad farms as the season comes to a close. Ingram suggests calling first to make sure a farm has good berries before you make the trip.
While Ingram said the spotty Memorial Day week rains are a start toward a better summer harvest, they are just a drop in the bucket since the drought has been going on so long.
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