By Clint Thompson
What a difference a year makes for one Alabama tomato producer. Chad Smith, who grows tomatoes in St. Clair County in the central part of the state, is preparing this year’s crop amid unusually dry conditions.
It has created a challenging environment to plant tomato plants, though it’s still much better than 2025.
“Take last year, it rained so much that we couldn’t get our equipment in the fields to plant the correct way. It was too wet to lay beds and lay plastic, and it caused a lot of bacterial issues, a lot of blight issues, a lot of different problems. It delayed us a lot and got us way behind,” said Smith, who is currently laying plastic for the tomato plants to be planted.
“This year, yeah, it’s drier than usual, especially for the spring time of the year in the Southeast, but I would rather have it dry than wet like last year. Now speaking on that, I definitely need a shower. I don’t need rain every three or four days, but I’d like to have two to three inches of rain, go away for a week and get another two-inch rain.”
How Dry Is It?
According to the April 16 release of the U.S. Drought Monitor, drought is being observed across all of Alabama. Abnormally dry conditions are felt in the north-central part of the state where Smith is located.
“I can’t remember the last time it’s been this dry this early. I’ve seen it way drier, but it’s May, June, July; having a drought during that period. This early in the year, it’s been rare,” Smith said. “Now, what the next two months holds, if it tends to be drier in the next two or three months, it definitely will be a drought.
“Usually this is your wetter season.”