Could the recent rain be too little, too late for farmers after a summer heat wave and serious dry spell?

It's been a brutal summer for many farmers dealing with an excess of heat and not enough rain, but help could soon be on the way.

Bill Hamilton's produce at the State Street Farmer's Market looks a little slim compared to usual. "There'd be a lot more beans, all different kinds of beans. My sweet corn just dried up," Hamilton told News 5.

It's a problem farmers across the region are dealing with. Weeks of record hot temperatures and no rain devastated crops and are still devastating profits.

"The dry weather has hurt, but we irrigate everything. [But it's taken] five to six gallon of gas a day, so that adds to the cost of everything," said Jackie Thomas of Thomas Farms in Washington County, Virginia. "We'll just have to eat it [ourselves,] I guess you would say," said Thomas.

That's why Washington County, Virginia is asking for help. We found out the Board of Supervisors approved a resolution to send to the governor that supports a disaster declaration.

Washington County, Virginia agriculture extension agent Phil Blevins brought the resolution to the county; he said he's seen plenty of damages. "We do have losses like we estimated in that [resolution] and asked the governor to send that on the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture for a disaster declaration," Blevins told News 5.

The hope is that federal money could give some financial relief to farmers of all kinds in the county; especially those who even recent rain may not help.

"We had a late freeze that hurt the hay crop, and so some people are short on hay already, and we're having to feed hay, because it was so dry and the pasture was gone," said Blevins.

But whether it comes from Mother Nature or Uncle Sam, farmers are just hoping for some kind of help and soon.

"We need it really bad," said Hamilton.

"Anything would help," Thomas said.

To put these losses in perspective, News 5 asked and found out many farmers lost about half their crops in the heat. They lost about half of their profits.

If the rain sticks around the disaster resolution may not be approved on the federal level, leaving some farmers stuck with their financial losses.