Yesterday marked the record-setting 10th straight day that temperatures soared passed 100 degrees in most parts of Alabama. When my wife got in her car, the thermometer read 121 degrees.

It’s all anyone is talking about – you hear it at the grocery store, you hear it at the bank, you hear it at church, you hear it everywhere – people talking about the heat wave. It’s so bad that communities are putting up “cooling shelters” for the elderly & those less fortunate who do not have air conditioning.

Some are so taken by the hot weather that they’ve even forgotten about the drought that we’ve had this summer. But, I can grant you that no fellow farmer has forgotten it! In addition to record temperatures, our area has also been dealing with a record drought.

These extremely hot dry conditions have taken a toll on Alabama’s farmers. According to a release by the Associated Press, the latest Drought Monitor Survey shows almost 52 percent of Alabama is now in the worst stages of a drought. Experts have called this the worst drought in a century and predict it could last through the winter.

So, what’s the big deal to anyone who does not live in our area? Well, Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture Ron Sparks summed it up as he was quoted in a recent press release. Commissioner Sparks said consumers soon could start feeling the effects of the drought at the retail level. He said farmers are dumping their livestock on the market early and watching crops die in the fields. Consumers could pay higher prices when commodities become more scarce.