Farmers Once Again Prepare For Drought With Arrival Of Spring

Almost half of Wisconsin is entering spring with drought conditions, something farmers have been dealing with for a couple years.

You might think after this winter’s constant snowfall, Wisconsin wouldn’t be in a drought, but the U.S. Drought Monitor shows that 44 percent of the state is experiencing abnormally dry conditions. Pockets of western and south central Wisconsin are in a moderate drought.

According to the National Weather Service, this winter’s snowfall had very little water content.

Adams County University of Wisconsin-Extension agriculture agent Don Genrichs says some corn and soybean farmers are already concerned about the drought. With the area’s sandy soil, Genrichs says it has become difficult for farmers to raise crops unless they have irrigation, leading more farmers to install high-capacity wells.

“Five years ago, most of the high capacity wells dealt with potato and vegetable production,” said Genrichs. “Now there’s just a lot of guys that are raising corn, soybeans, and alfalfa for some of the dairy cows. They have just a couple hundred acres and have put in a high-capacity well just to raise crops.”

Pierce County’s UW-Extension agriculture agent Greg Andrews says corn growers in his area are hoping a new type of seed will result in a good crop regardless what the weather brings.

“When they’re making their buying decisions late last fall, going into early winter, they wanted to look for hybrids that were as drought-tolerant as they could be – looking for genetic traits that align with a pretty broad spectrum of resiliency in those hybrids in the event they have dry conditions,” said Andrews.

Andrews says the most ideal conditions for farmers would be for temperatures to rise steadily and for weekly rainfall in the summer.