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Dayton
Business Journal...
Drought
putting pressure on Ohio farmers
by Rick
Rouan, Web coordinator
Friday,
July 6, 2012
Dry weather
that has blistered the Midwest in recent weeks is landing a haymaker on
the
state’s crops.
In the last
week, the share of Ohio corn crops that are rated poor or very poor has
grown
from 15 percent to 26 percent, an Ohio Department of Agriculture spokeswoman
said. The share of soybeans
that are rated poor or very poor has grown from 20 percent to 30
percent during
that time.
“It’s safe
to say that a lot of that has to do with the dry conditions,” Erica
Pitchford
said. “... Even if it starts raining now, you’re not going to see
maximum crop
yields.”
The dry
conditions come several months after optimism for Ohio’s crops was
growing amid
unseasonably warm temperatures in March and early April. Expectations
of an
early harvesting season and strong yields have tapered off, she said.
“Now we’re
going to be looking at yields among the lowest we’ve seen in recent
memory,”
Pitchford said.
The
early-summer drought is drawing comparisons to 1988, said Joe Cornely,
an Ohio
Farm Bureau spokesman. If the drought persists like it did in 1988,
billions of
dollars likely could be lost.
Farming
remains a vibrant part of the Dayton-area economy. In Darke County
alone,
agriculture remains the leading business, accounting for more than $350
million
in annual revenue.
A National
Weather Service
drought specialist
said last month that the weather patterns this year are similar to
1988, when
the agriculture industry lost $78 billion, Bloomberg reports.
The U.S.
Drought Monitor shows that nearly all of Ohio is at least abnormally
dry and
that many counties were in a moderate drought as of July 3. The state’s
northwest corner already is in a severe drought.
“It’s dry
everywhere. It’s more dry in certain regions of the state. Much of that
has to
do with soil type — some soils drain more than others so you get into
those
kinds of conditions,” Cornely said. “A lot of it will be influenced on
when the
crop was planted. If it got planted early and off to a strong start,
it’s going
to be in better shape right now than if it got planted late.”
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