August 2012
Drought DAMAGE LOOMS Immediate and substantial rain needed to prevent crop losses BY MARK WEBBER
Water poured over a seemingly spent wheat field is actually an essential ingredient for the success of young double-cropped soybeans pushing up, unseen, through the stubble. PHOTO BY ANGELA JACKSON
Indiana crop conditions continue to deteriorate daily as the drought worsens to a level not seen in half a century, according to a Purdue agricultural economist. Chris Hurt added that triple-digit temperatures and the driest June on record have also dried up pastures where cattle feed in summertime. The latest available U.S. Drought Monitor report showed nearly all of Indiana is in severe or extreme drought. Purdue experts like Hurt warn that if the drought continues through August, crop losses could be as great as they were in 1988. According to USDA research, corn and soybean production plummeted by about 30 percent that year. The yield loss caused the cost of food to jump by more than 5 percent in the fall of 1988. The following year, supermarket prices rose by nearly 6 percent. Hurt said soybean yields still may have the potential to recover if normal rainfall patterns return. “Soybean yields are significantly related to August temperatures and precipitation,” he said. “There is still a potential for yield recovery in soybeans up until late July and even into August.” Despite the record-breaking weather conditions in June, this may not be the worst agricultural conditions Hoosier farmers have endured. “I was told that in 1934, it didn’t rain in Greensburg from May until October,” said Decatur County extension educator Dan-
precipitation over several weeks would be iel Wilson. While the agricultural agent required to provide beneficial relief. The could not verify that information, he does irony is that it may take another devastatknow that well-established droughts are ing natural event to end this one. hard to break. “It usually takes a hurricane in the gulf “Vegetation creates vapor when the region to move the high pressure system plants transpire, which allows a cycle to north and give Indiana that type of rain,” happen that induces moisture into the said Wilson, who said he’d be clouds,” explained Wilson. content just to get a consis“Without the vegetation, you tent two- or three-day soaker have a lack of rainfall. So the “A break in the in south central Indiana. question is: Are the weath- drought and heat “If we got that three or er conditions causing this for the remainder four inches now, it would change in our ecosystem, or is of the season would certainly minimize limit the damage to vegit a cycle?” etation. It could help some The thunderstorms that further deterioration of the late-plant corn that crossed south central In- of the corn crop but would not hadn’t tasseled yet, help the diana during the fi rst days result in recovery ponds and bring grass back of July did little to help the to anywhere close to where the animals graze,” crops. Less than half of the to normal yields.” he said. normal amount of rain has Bob Nielsen But Wilson is worried. fallen across much of the PURDUE EXTENSION CORN SPECIALIST He’s heard from several state since the beginning of Decatur County families May. Purdue experts say the who say their wells are goparched conditions also were ing dry. And he said there should be no aggravated by a dry, mild winter. doubt that negative impact will extend “A break in the drought and heat for the much further than agricultural profits remainder of the season would certainly and higher food prices. minimize further deterioration of the “Less income for farmers mean fewer corn crop but would not result in recovery agricultural sales, which creates payto anywhere close to normal yields,” Bob checks for people who live here and sell Nielsen, Purdue Extension corn specialist, equipment,” SEE DROUGHT ON PAGE 2 said. He believes that four to six inches of
EDITOR'S NOTE
Welcome to the first issue of Farm Indiana, a monthly publication of Home News Enterprises offering a local view on agriculture in southern Indiana. Our scope will be Bartholomew, Brown, Decatur, Jackson, Jennings and Johnson counties, and Farm Indiana will be inserted the last Wednesday of each month in the Brown County Democrat and The (Seymour) Tribune and in certain delivery routes for the (Johnson County) Daily Journal and The (Columbus) Republic. We’ll have stories on area farms and the people behind them, articles about farm business as it pertains to those in southern Indiana, and features on new equipment, technological advances and more. We’ll hear from area representatives of Purdue Extension offices, Farm Service Agency and others. Those of us responsible for Farm Indiana want this to be your publication. We welcome your contributions, whether they be 4-H news, folks we should profile, upcoming events, FFA news, photos from events that have already occurred, story ideas or whatever. We hope you enjoy this premier issue and decide you want to be a part of Farm Indiana. Send your contributions, thoughts, suggestions, etc., to me at farmindiana@hnenewspapers.com, or call me at 812-379-5625 or visit us on Facebook at Facebook.com/farmindiana.
DOUG SHOWALTER
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