Under the weather: Lengthy drought has NC farmers ‘praying for the rain’

by Jane Winik Sartwell, Carolina Public Press
March 21, 2025

Last year was an all-time low in the history of North Carolina farming, thanks to drought and flood. 

Farmers are desperate to catch a break in 2025. But just as planting season begins, large swaths of the state are still plagued by dry conditions. At the same time, an active wildfire season has complicated matters.

“We really need a good start,” Jacob Morgan, the extension director for Jones County, told Carolina Public Press. “Planting is going to start any minute.”

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Morgan, and the farmers he assists, may not be so lucky. Severe or moderate drought has persisted in coastal Jones County since early November 2024.

Neighboring Onslow County is experiencing a severe drought.

And 55 more counties are in moderate drought — an arid patch that stretches all the way from the Atlantic Ocean to the Appalachian Mountains in the west. 

Only one area in the state has escaped abnormally dry conditions: Franklin County in the Piedmont region.

“We’ve been lucky because it has been wintertime and demand is low,” explained Klaus Albertin, who chairs the North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council. “Crops are dormant. Lawns and gardens aren’t being maintained. But we’re about to go into spring and demands are really going to start picking up. There is increasing concern.”

Agriculture anxieties

Corn is typically the first crop farmers plant in the spring and last year it was decimated by drought. Yield losses climbed to hundreds of millions of dollars across the state. 

This year, corn farmers are desperate for good news. But it hasn’t come yet.

The sandy soil of eastern North Carolina does not retain moisture well, and a dry spell this early on could lead to trouble. Any precipitation the region does receive could get soaked up pretty quickly.

“You need it to be dry to get out into the fields to plant, but you need enough soil moisture to get the crop up,” Morgan said. “It’s a real dance — especially for corn. There is such a short window of pollination, and if conditions aren’t right during that window, it could spell disaster.” 

And that’s what happened last year.

“We are praying for the rain,” said Shawn Banks, Carteret County’s extension director.

Fortunately, recent rains have slightly eased drought conditions across the state. Still, even though things are starting to bloom, it may not be a sign that North Carolina is out of trouble.

“Drought is not just skin deep,” said Corey Davis, a drought expert at the State Climate Office. “Even if there are puddles in your yard or the grass is turning green, that doesn’t mean we’re out of this drought. We still have those entrenched impacts in deeper soils and groundwater stores.”

Drought has one benefit

One good thing about this dry run: It’s aiding Tropical Storm Helene recovery efforts in Western North Carolina. 

“This warm, dry weather will definitely help move along the stream bank repair work and bridge and road infrastructure construction out west,” Mitch Woodward, a state extension agent specializing in watershed protection, told CPP. 

“They don’t need anymore rain or mud out there for awhile.”

As winter recedes, it’s given way to warmer weather and a North Carolina landscape that has proven to be intensely combustible. A lightning strike can be enough to ignite a wildfire. But as CPP recently reported, the majority of wildfires have been caused by careless people.

Spring is a dangerous time for wildfires. Dead leaves and branches on the forest floor serve as kindling. The sun gets hotter and hotter each day, with no foliage to provide shade. 

Until the forest canopy fills in completely, there will be a risk of wildfire, Colby Lambert, an eastern North Carolina extension agent specializing in forestry, told CPP. 

“Everything is just very flammable at the moment,” Albertin said. “Low humidity combined with the lack of rainfall and high winds — that’s going to increase the risk of wildfire.”

This, too, has an economic impact. Morgan is worried about valuable timber lands in Jones County burning up.

And the problem isn’t going away.

On Thursday, in fact, the N.C. Forest Service was dealing with two wildfires sparking in Polk County on the South Carolina line.

This article first appeared on Carolina Public Press and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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