2012 Drought, High Temperatures Hurt Local Farmers

Although Lilburn has had plenty of rain over the past few days, the long dry spell and intense heat had its effect on local farms.

Andrea Brannen, the assistant market manager in Lilburn, said that some of the farmers who regularly come to the Friday market are having trouble.

"The high temperatures earlier this month caused some of the plants to shut down - they either died or quit producing fruit for a while," she said. "This happened to our peach vendor, and they missed a week of the market because they had no fruit to sell."

"Thankfully another variety of peaches began to ripen, and they are back," she added.

For the most part, though, the drought has not had too much of an impact on local crops.

Other parts of the country have not been so lucky. Although Georgia is prone to high temperatures during the growing season, the scale of the drought is what has many concerned.   

Over half the country, including Georgia, has been because of the lack of rain.  

The video at the top of this article shows just how bad it has become. 

For those vendors with personal irrigation systems to weather the drought, things are better, but for others it is a true conundrum.

Still, "for the most part, our farmers continue to come and sell whatever they have available," Brannen said. "Last week everyone wanted cucumbers, but they were hard to find at the market."

Have you been affected by the drought?  Tell us in the comments!