How Upstate farmers are getting through dry season, drought in some areas

LAURENS COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) A summer of extreme heat in the Upstate is beginning to leave its mark.

“Right now we are in a dry period, if it turns into a full blown drought here in the Upstate, it has an impact,” said Troy Prosser, owner of Barefoot Acres Farm.

At Barefoot Acres Farm in Laurens County, preparation is carrying them through this dry season. But it doesn’t erase the obvious signs of no rain.

“We have South Raven Creek that borders the backside of our property that feeds into Lake Raven which is down in Laurens which is part of the watershed, usually this time of year the creek is about mid pool, right now it’s pretty much a trickle,” said Prosser.

There are several ways a water shortage impacts farmers.  

“We rely on the rain obviously, we have to overhead water sprinklers in the greenhouses when we don’t have those periods of rain so that obviously has a financial burden on our farm,” said Prosser.

Other ways create the bigger problem.

“As much as we can feed from natural water, it is so much better than using any type of treated water and it’s amazing to see how much plants will grow so much more significantly from the natural water,” said Prosser.

Having been in the farming business long enough to understand the importance of water, the Prosser’s are now passing along their knowledge to other farmers through classes at Barefoot Acres.

“As we’ve gone through this we used to spend hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars on water and we learned how to harvest water naturally and it really inspired us to teach others,” said Prosser.

“If we can help anybody new coming into this, we are going to help and we would tell them the first thing is to try to set up some sort of water collection,” said Jody Prosser.

Being proactive is crucial now, during a dry season, for the farmers but also for the community, so the farmers can continue to provide.

Barefoot Acres Farm is hosting a fall festival at their farm on October 28th. It will have trick-or-treating for kids, hayrides, live music, food trucks and local artisans and artists.