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Week by week: Nebraska farmer fears drought could worsen during the summer
Northeast Nebraska farmer Greg Anderson says he’s worried that relief from on-going drought will be short lived.
“If we turn absolutely dry again and have that as a pattern, there’s very little subsoil moisture to work with. As roots go down, whether that’s corn or soybeans, they’re going to struggle to have the water requirements they need.”
He tells Brownfield crops may need weekly-rain events to catch up and mature. “We are in a severe drought. The Drought Monitor has not changed at all for about 3 or 4 months. We would’ve like to have made a dent in that during the spring when rain events are a little more prevalent, however, it didn’t really change it.”
The Newman Grove farmer says August could make or break his soybean crop. “The last two years on my farm we’ve had everything looking really good up until August 1 and then it turned dry. We hope that maybe it’s reversed this year.”
Anderson is a member on the Nebraska Soybean Board.
