Here is a look at farming conditions across the country, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor.
Midwest
Conditions are worsening for farmers in the Midwest.
Taking a look at the latest U.S. Drought Monitor, the region has gone from no drought to moderate levels in just a matter of two weeks due to very dry and warm temperatures. Precipitation gave a boost to planting and growing for the rest of farm country though, with improvements being seen in the Florida Peninsula, western states and finally in the Plains!
Southwest
Conditions have gone from one extreme to another in Texas.
Here is a look at how drought has changed in the state in the last month. On the left is the monitor from the beginning of May, with the map covered in extreme and exceptionally dry conditions. More than 305,000 people that week were in the worst category. On the right, is the most recent conditions, with hardly any red on the screen. Now 33,000 people are dealing with exceptional drought.
Now let’s look at what exactly farmers were facing. This picture was taken late April, early May. Ag country was plagued in the Plains with high winds which spread heavy amounts of dust due to the majority of the state being in a drought.
And now farmers are cleaning up after extreme flooding! Tony St. James with All Ag All Day shared both of these pictures with us and they were taken just one month a part! This one shows a field completely engulfed in water, like its part of the beach! St. James says this is a reoccurring trend.
“Where we have three years that are extremely dry going back about 20 years now and three years are dry and then we’ll have like five or so that are around average and then back to that three years of dry,” St. James says. “Just 60 days ago we were talking about dust storms and winds of 75-115 miles per hour just blowing the top soil. Ten days ago we had water flooding out of fields. So, yeah what a difference just a few days can make.”
St. James says Floyd County received more than six inches of rain in the month of May and that is already half the amount received in total last year.
