HIGH POINT—Farmers across the state are working extra hours to protect their crops and livestock during the sub-freezing temperatures.
Rhonda Ingram and her family have decades of experience farming strawberries and livestock at their farm in High Point, and they know one thing for sure.
"We've been doing this for over 35 years,” she said. “You can't trick Mother Nature."
And they're as frustrated as anyone over the weather.
"The things we should be getting done to get ready for the spring season you can't do because the ground is solid as a rock,” Ingram said. “You can't start putting some of your earlier crops in because it's too cold, and you spend a lot of your efforts feeding your animals."
The family is taking a "wait and see" approach to this year's crop.
"Honestly, we're not going to know until the season gets going, but it's probably going to be a lot like last year,” Ingram said. “You're going to see a late start to your season because of this weather. You will probably see a loss in your first blooms."
"This cold weather is not necessarily going to kill them, but it's going to put a freeze on them, and everything's going to slow down,” said NC Cooperative Extension field crops agent John Ivey.
Ingram calls Mother's Day weekend the Black Friday of strawberry picking in the Tar Heel State, and she says the farm's goal is to have all these berries out by the second weekend in May.
And more bad news: it hasn't been a harsh enough winter to cut back on bugs this spring and summer.
"We've just had cold snaps, so I don't think that this is going to affect pest pressure a lot, but just delay it, much like the crops,” Ivey said.
The Cooperative Extension expects farmers who've planted winter rye, wheat and barley will likely see a loss in those crops this year.