[Anchor]

A severe heatwave alert has been issued for the Gangwon region for the first time. Damage to summer crops is severe, raising concerns that it will further drive up already high agricultural prices.

Reporter Kim Do-woon from G1.

[Reporter]

Thousands of square meters of cabbage fields have been entirely plowed under.

While harvest was temporarily delayed to match market prices, the crops completely burned black.

If sold at market value, it would have been worth tens of millions of won.

Even potatoes that were fine a week ago have completely rotted.

No matter how much the soil is dug up, there are no healthy potatoes to be found.

In the boiling temperatures, they have turned soft and crush like boiled potatoes.

In 40 years of farming, this is the first time such a thing has happened.

[Lee Sang-hyuk / Haean-myeon, Yanggu-gun, Gangwon Province: Fields like this are not just one or two. How can words even describe it? It is just so upsetting.]

Fruits could not escape the heat either.

Apples are suffering from sunburns that cause scalding, and peaches are experiencing splitting damage where the fruits burst open.

Varieties that should be growing rapidly in time for the Chuseok shipment have stopped growing altogether due to the heat.

[Cheon Jeong-tae / Apple Farmer: Chuseok is in late September, and this is not the time for them to be coloring. The sides exposed to continuous sunlight are turning red. When it gets worse, they turn white.]

Amid the relentless heatwave, the province's first severe heatwave alerts were issued for areas including Chuncheon, Hongcheon, and Hoengseong, but farmers cannot stop working while watching their crops burn away.

[Park Won-sun / Peach Farmer: They tell us not to go out and work during the day, but these peaches keep rotting away, and sitting back just does not feel right.]

Currently, damage reports are focused primarily on human casualties and livestock, making it impossible to even gauge the full extent of the damage to farming households.

As the hearts of farmers burn with the heat, an impact on agricultural prices for the upcoming Chuseok holiday appears inevitable.

(Video by Son Young-oh / G1 Broadcasting)

Kim Do-woon, G1