Georgia drought strains farmers, mobile markets as produce prices rise

Georgia's ongoing drought is being felt far beyond farms and fields. For mobile markets serving metro Atlanta families, it is also making fresh fruits and vegetables harder to find — and more expensive to provide.

On Monday, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division declared a Drought Response Level 1 for the entire state, urging water conservation as dry conditions continue. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has also expanded drought disaster aid for Georgia farmers, with state agriculture officials saying 20 additional counties are now designated as primary natural disaster areas because of the drought.  

At Eat Right Atlanta, a mobile farmers market that has served underserved communities for 15 years, co-owner Nicole Folkes-Johnson said the impact has been noticeable since late March.

"We are Atlanta's number one farmers market delivery service," Folkes-Johnson said. "We host farmers markets all over Atlanta."

The business works primarily with south Georgia farmers and delivers fresh produce across the region, including areas as far north as Cartersville, west as Dallas and east as Augusta.

Folkes-Johnson said the mission is especially important for families living in food deserts or communities without easy access to grocery stores. But the drought has disrupted the supply chain that makes that work possible.

"Since the drought, we have some farmers who are not farming anymore," Folkes-Johnson said. "They can't do it. It's too expensive. They're not coming to town as often as they were coming. We're finding many days when we just have gaps with stuff."

Driver Navarro Lazarus, who helps load and unload produce and set up several pop-up markets each week, said customers are already seeing fewer options.

"It has been harder to get items like carrots, corn, tomatoes and certain key items that a lot of people want," Lazarus said.

Eat Right Atlanta partners with many hospital systems in Georgia to provide food options in hospital lobbies. Through daily market pop-ups and community partnerships, the business feeds roughly 5,000 families a week, according to the owners.

But keeping those prices low is becoming more difficult.

Folkes-Johnson said tomatoes, which are usually less than $20 a case, have jumped into the $70 range.

"Normally, we can comfortably say we're running at 25% [profit]," Folkes-Johnson said. "The last month it went to zero. It went to zero [profit]."

Despite the rising costs, she said the business does not want to pass the burden on to families already paying more at the grocery store.

"I really hope that this ends soon because it has been terrible and it means we can't do the job we need to do," Folkes-Johnson said. "We don't want to harm them anymore."

Co-owner Donsha Johnson said the business plans to keep serving families, even if that means absorbing higher costs.

"Even if the cost is high, sometimes we'll bear that cost and take the hit just to get it to the customer because that's what they're looking for," Johnson said.