Breaking news;East Tennessee in drought,Farmer calls for action on climate change see more..

This is the latest drought monitor, we can see some of the area under severe drought. It takes a while to get into drought. You need weeks upon weeks of dry conditions and we’ve had that across East Tennessee and in Southeast Kentucky, prolonged weeks of high humidity and very little rain chances,” he said.

Multiple rounds of heavy rainfall will be needed to end the drought. However, if the rain comes all at once it could cause flooding.

As East Tennessee suffers a drought, farmers are working to protect their crops.

Ernest Meadows and his family run Mountain Meadows Farm in Anderson County, where they grow fruit like peaches, apples, pears, and berries.

Meadows said the drought conditions point to a bigger problem.

“Climate change has affected the fruit crop every year, because every year the winters get slightly warmer, and what it does, it causes the fruit to bloom earlier and earlier every year and usually it gets killed by frost because it blooms too early,” he said.

When it comes to a drought, fires are his biggest concern at the farm.