Months of drought have caused crop yields in the vast US Midwest, the country’s vital “breadbasket,” to plummet, with some fields too damaged to harvest. Rachel Tucker, owner of Tucker Farms in Venango, Nebraska, said that “we were only able to harvest… around 500” acres, the majority of which were wheat.
Much of the rest had shriveled up in the scorching heat. The drought has attracted grasshoppers, which have threatened the Tuckers’ flowers—that is, until they introduced praying mantises to control the winged pests.
If the American West has been suffering from water scarcity for years, the Midwest has not seen this level of devastation since 2012. “It’s even worse than 2012,” Tucker said. “Way worse.” Her husband, whose grandfather farmed these same fields, claims that conditions have not been this bad since the 1930s’ Dust Bowl. The situation in western Kansas is just as bad to the south. “This morning I was catching up with some older farmers,” said Marc Ramsey, whose family has farmed near Scott City for nearly a century.
“Guys in their 70s and 80s are saying that they have never witnessed anything like this in their lives. So it’s not good.”
Rainfall has been virtually non-existent since late July, he claims. “Two inches has been all we’ve had, pretty much all year.” Rex Buchanan, emeritus director of the Kansas Geological Survey, noted one difference from the dry years of 2010-2012: “It seems like when the rain stopped, it just completely stopped.”
Drought has hit the three major US crops: wheat, corn, and soybeans, and the US Department of Agriculture recently had to lower its nationwide yield predictions. Along With Kansas and Nebraska, the Midwestern state of South Dakota has also been hard-hit.
Dwindling groundwater
Drought has hit the three major US crops: wheat, corn, and soybeans, and the US Department of Agriculture recently had to lower its nationwide yield predictions. Along With Kansas and Nebraska, the Midwestern state of South Dakota has also been hard-hit.
In normal times, these three states provide one-third of US winter wheat production, and one-fourth of the corn output. Approximately 30 percent of Marc Ramsey’s land is irrigated, meaning that portion is doing better than his other fields. Tucker Farms’ single irrigated field also fares better than the others. But even some of Ramsey’s irrigated fields are producing only 80 bushels of corn per acre, less than half the usual rate.
High levels of water usage have led to “pretty dramatic declines” in aquifers across western Kansas, Buchanan said, adding that farmers in some areas “have really struggled. They’ve seen some wells go dry. They’ve had to return to dryland farming,” meaning without irrigation.
‘You just worry’
With water rights strictly limited, Buchanan said some farmers have banded together in agreements on more cautious use of subterranean water, drawing as much as 20 percent less than permitted.
Ramsey, like the Tuckers, carries crop insurance covering exceptional losses. But a year like 2022 can push up premiums, which were already rising due to increased commodity costs. Insurance “covers your cost of productivity, for the most part,” Ramsey said. “And so we’ll be here next year and try it again.” But insurance doesn’t refill dwindling aquifers—something that autumn rains usually take care of.
The lack of soil moisture “will be a concern going forward into winter and next spring without a change in what we are currently seeing,” said Brian Fuchs, a climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Though Buchanan says that “there’s certainly an awareness (among farmers) about climate change,” despite the political sensitivity of the subject in the United States.
Farming is always difficult and unpredictable work—and in years like this, said farmer Rachel Tucker, “you just worry about the suicide rate. So I’m hoping that everybody can stay in high spirits, and hope for the best next year.”
