What an interesting year it has been for farming. Weather experts have reported an increase in the number of heavy rains and intense weather episodes contributed to climate change. I have read and heard numerous news reports about record heat and threats of intense drought affecting the planet and the world’s food supply. Locally, I cannot say that we have had any negative effects of either of these claims.
My growing season started in late March when I planted my first field of oats. Only 2 days later our roller coaster ride of wet and dry began. I could not plant in a field again until the 3rd week of April due to some heavy deluges that brought field flooding and ponding of water. May brought a lengthy spell of “normal” to dry weather. In the 2nd week of June another period of intense rain arrived that delivered close to 10” of rain by month end.
Thankfully the end of June returned to another stretch of dry weather that allowed the completion of weed control and fertilizing in farm fields along with the harvest of wheat and oats and hay fields. By late July the rains returned. August did not hold back as Mother Nature stated, “hold my beer”, so to speak, and unleashed a plethora of intense thunderstorms that pummeled our area. Some local businesses will receive a substantial economic boost with all activity for tree removal and repairs to many houses and buildings. I also suspect that generator sales have seen the same meteoric rise as diesel fuel prices. That round of wicked weather became the 3rd time our area had endured a 3-week deluge of close to 10” of rain.
The end of August into September then brought our 3rd period of lengthy dry weather. In 26 days, my farm only received 0.4” of rain. Unfortunately, 0.2” of that occurred over a 2-day drizzly and steamy spell that washed rinsed and repeated on multiple fields of hay cut and trying to dry. I am shocked that many local bean fields still look green and growing. When will harvest occur? Perhaps the rain that has just arrived on September 17th will speed their maturation. Another tidbit I have noticed is my sunflower fields are flowering a week later than normally and most plants are barely 2’ tall versus the norm of 3-5 feet.
If you are a weather geek like me you probably already know that we have received close to 40” of rain for the year, currently 10” above normal. If you are a lawn geek like my wife, you are probably glad that the recent rain will revive the grass that was starting to languish and turn brown. Hopefully the rainy spell predicted for this 3rd weekend of September does not last as long as the previous three wet spells. I have a lot of hay fields I would like to harvest before the combines roll in the corn and soybean fields.
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