ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. (WDRB) -- Drought isn't a worry for most teenagers, but it's a top concern for one in Elizabethtown.
Luke Berthold is a 15-year-old farmer who will be starting 10th grade at Central Hardin High School this fall.
"I run about a couple hundred acres (of) farm here in Elizabethtown, Kentucky," Berthold said.
Berthold rents land from his grandfather and a few other people in Hardin County. But this growing season has been one of the hardest for Berthold, who started farming a few years ago.
"The corn ain't doing too good," he said.
Some of the leaves on Berthold's crops are burnt and curling.
"Where these plants are starting to roll up, kind of almost looks like pineapples is what I call them," he said.
Corn stalks on Luke Berthold's Elizabethtown farmland. (WDRB photo)
The teen sells what he grows in Owensboro. But he's not sure that'll be the case this year.
"The way it's looking I don't think there's going to be a crop this year, I hate to say that but these couple showers we've had it's just not enough," Berthold said.
Dry dirt is just one sign of the severe drought southern Hardin County is experiencing.
"We have droughts that build over long periods and then we have what's referred to as a flash drought," WDRB Chief Meteorologist Marc Weinberg said.
Weinberg said this type of drought came on quickly.
"This is more of a flash drought meaning in June we just basically stopped raining and since that point the drought has built quickly," Berthold said.
While some rain relief could be on the way, Weinberg said it needs to be significant to revive crops.
"It's going to take rain and it's going to take it over a long period of time, not a thunderstorm that comes through and drops an inch of rain. But something where you get, let's say two days of rain," he said.
This growing season is teaching one teen farmer a tough lesson.
"I don't have crop insurance now and am I regretting it now? Yes, very much," Berthold said. "After this year I will definitely be getting crop insurance."
But for now, Berthold and his right-hand man, his grandfather, are holding out for one thing.
"We're just waiting for the Lord to send rain. We're waiting on him," Berthold's grandfather said.
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