Parched

Crops Hit Hard By Heat, Drought

By Andrew Atwal
andrew.atwal@yankton.net

With most of southeast South Dakota and northeast Nebraska suffering under extreme heat and drought conditions, farmers in the area are taking a huge hit with their crop yields.

All of South Dakota and Nebraska are currently in a drought, as classified by the University of Nebraska at Lincoln’s United States drought monitor. Furthermore, more than 77 percent of South Dakota is under a moderate, severe, extreme or exceptional drought stage. In Nebraska, more than 99 percent of the state is under a moderate, or higher, drought level.

This is a big shift from this time last year, where no area in either state was suffering from a drought.

“On a Corn Belt basis, this is the most widespread drought since 1988,” Dennis Todey, South Dakota state climatologist, said in a statement.

Larry Wagner, SDSU Extension Agronomy Field Specialist added, “This has been a very dry period and it has gotten very serious.”

Worse, there’s no relief in sight. The forecast for the next week calls for very few chances for rain and more hot weather heading into the       region.

The long-range forecast by Accuweather.com is predicting dry conditions and above-normal temperatures through mid-August.

During the last week, precipitation in South Dakota was less than an inch across the entire state, with the exception of areas in the northwest and some other localized areas, including Irene.

He said there will likely be an 80 to 90 percent reduction in corn yield because of the drought.

“A lot of corn won’t get ears or pollinate because of the extreme drought,” he said.

He added that, once corn finish pollinating, rain would not help yields at all.

Wagner noted that a lot of people in the area are resourceful and could use their corn as cattle feed if the drought conditions continue. However, farmers need to be very careful if they decide to do that.

“Farmers should test to see if there are nitrate levels in the corn before using it as feed,” Wagner said. “If the levels are high, it will kill cattle.”

He added that people are looking at all of their options and are trying to get what they can from their yields.

In addition to the corn yield being down Rich Schwartz, county executive director for the Farm Service Agency (FSA) office in Yankton, said farmers will likely be around 40 percent of their normal hay yield if the hot and dry conditions persist.

However, despite the dire conditions for most crops, soybeans still have a chance to rebound.

“Rain would definitely still help soybean yields,” Schwartz said. “There can still be a fair soybean yield this season.”

“Soybeans have been doing quite well recently, despite the drought,” Wagner said. “Once they enter the reproduction stage, the heat and drought will begin to effect their yields.”

The conditions have become so extreme that Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) wrote a letter to the secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to encourage more flexibility to help the producers in South Dakota that are battling the drought.

The letter makes the recommendation of flexibility in the opening of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres for emergency haying and grazing in the state, among others.

Schwartz thinks the emergency CRP ruling will go through.

“We will know the official word on it by July 26. It’s not 100 percent (guaranteed), but I think it will go forward,” he said. “It will help stretch feed supplies, and even though its not the best quality of hay, it will help.”

Schwartz added that Yankton County is getting closer to declaring a drought emergency.

Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman expanded early roadside haying in 25 counties across his state due to the extreme drought conditions. In addition, applications to hay all Nebraska roadsides will be open to all citizens of the state.

In addition, Heineman authorized an emergency declaration for the drought that allows personnel and resources in Nebraska to assist with emergency situations and prevention. The declaration also allows for maximum flexibility to deploy National Guard and Emergency Management Agency assets and resources as needed across Nebraska.

“This drought has been devastating,” Schwartz said.

Some pastures across the region are doing well, but Wagner notes that pastures in the Yankton area are not so fortunate.

“Pastures in the area are in tough shape right now,” he said. “It’s going to be very difficult for them to improve if farmers don’t get rain soon.”

Schwartz added, in addition to the heat and drought, speculators also play a big influence on farmers’ profits.

“People that raise corn are at the mercy of speculators,” he said. “If prices continue to go up, there will continue to be huge impacts on ethanol.”

Schwartz added, “It’s not a pretty picture right now. The drought is having a huge negative impact on farmers.”

You can follow Andrew Atwal on Twitter at twitter.com/andrewatwal

 

http://www.yankton.net/articles/2012/07/13/community/doc4fff9b96cab39611037057.txt