Heat and lack of rain scorching crops

Soil samples show about 70 percent of Missouri is short of moisture.

Rain dribbled on Southeast Missouri Thursday afternoon, but area farmers say it's going to have to do more than that to quench the thirst of their moisture-starved crops.

"It's really quite dry," said Glen Birk, a Jackson wheat and soybean farmer. "Some of the crops are ready to come up, but they won't until they get some rain. We got a little bit, but not nearly enough to have any effect yet. ... I'm greatly concerned."

So are a lot of farmers. An especially dry May and June, coupled with recent sky-high temperatures, are hurting crops across Southeast Missouri. That's bad news for agriculture, where the profit margin can already be thin.

The southeast corner of Missouri is being hit the hardest. For the four weeks ending June 26, the state saw as much as 9.5 inches of rain in northwest Missouri's Ray County but as little as an inch in part of the Bootheel, said Gene Danekas with the USDA's Missouri Agricultural Statistics office.

"Dry conditions are always a concern. You see your investment sitting there, and you're waiting on God to pull it through," he said.

Danekas said data gathered on topsoil moisture through Sunday from around the state showed about 70 percent of Missouri was short or very short of moisture.

Locally, June offered 3.25 inches of rain, according to readings at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport after an even dryer May, when 2.74 inches fell.

Gerald Bryan, an agronomy specialist with the University of Missouri Extension office in Jackson, said some damage has already been done. The lack of rain is holding back crops like soybeans from growing and the hot, dry weather is hindering corn's pollination process. Corn kernels need to be pollinated or they won't yield as much, he said.

Heat can also stress crops that don't get moisture, he said. The heat also affects dairy cows, which don't eat as much in hot weather and therefore don't produce as much milk. He said there are also cattle farmers who are struggling to feed their cows in dry pastures.

"We need some good solid rain followed by some fairly cool weather," Bryan said. "I don't know if any farmer who wouldn't take some rain, even if they irrigate."

Farmers say if they go another week or so without rain, things will go from worrying to alarming.

"Another week and it could get really bad," said Kenny Vowels, county director for the Farm Service Agency in Scott County. "Nonirrigated crops are going to see some yield loss, there's no question about that."

Vowels said that he believes the dry spell qualifies as a drought. He said 35 percent to 40 percent of Scott County farmers use irrigation systems.

Meanwhile, farmers will continue to look to the sky and hope for rain.

John Lorberg, who farms 900 acres of soybeans and corn in Gordonville, said two inches of rain that fell two weeks ago saved his crops.

"They were really starting to hurt here," he said. "The leaves were curling up and looking bad. We're not hurting as bad as some of our neighbors are."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

smoyers@semissourian.com

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