Annapolis Valley farmers coping with extremely dry conditions

Farmers in the Annapolis Valley are battling against Mother Nature.

In Kings County, the month of June saw the lowest recorded rainfall in 70 years.That means getting water on crops is a high priority.

"We've gone from dry to really dry in the last week and we've had a lot of strong winds,"said JoshOulton, owner and operatorof TapRoot Farms. "Evaporation has increased."

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Oulton'swork crews have been busy moving from field to field laying down irrigation pipes.

Fields and orchards in Kings County are bone dry and some crops have already been lost due to the dry conditions.

"All the stuff that we planted early,like early peas, early beans, early corn, all those lovely items that we look forward to, to get us out of the winter blues, are showing real stresses from a lack of water,"saidOulton.

"We are desperately trying to get those crops filled out and plump like we're used to seeing."

'Rain would be ideal'

The first few days of July have been windy and dry, and in June only 23 millimetres of rain fell at CFB Greenwood.

That's the lowest June total since 1946 and only29 per centof what normally falls in the month of June in the area.

"Rain would be ideal and not just a little rain.We're talking we need a good fourdays of 10 to 20 millimetres a day to kind of get us back into a nice spot,"saidOulton.

The biggest worry now is maintaining a water supply if the dry weather continues.The more water that gets pumped on to fields means irrigation ponds could dry up.

AndOultonsays what is normally the driest part of the summer has yet to come.