The majority of Virginia’s localities are under either a drought advisory watch or warning.
According to a recent Drought Advisory Declaration from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and the Virginia Drought Monitoring Task Force, 12 counties are under a drought advisory warning and 95 counties and cities are under a drought watch, according to a July 11 release from the Farm Bureau of Virgnia.
The declaration was issued to advise Virginians in the affected areas to prepare for a potential drought. While recent rainfall has helped in some areas, it has not alleviated conditions for farmers in many areas across the commonwealth, especially in the Shenandoah and Northern Virginia regions, DEQ said.
A drought or severe drought designation is initiated by local U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency offices and approved by the U.S. secretary of agriculture. This type of designation enables farmers in the affected counties to be eligible for certain assistance from...