Drought that descended over western Oklahoma last fall has persisted to the point that harvests of winter wheat may be down by as much as 50% this year, farmers and state officials say.
In Cimarron County, dryland wheat producer J.B. Stewart said his wheat yields this year have been zero.
“I’ve been farming since I got out of college, and this is the first time I have not had a single acre to cut. It’s all gone, thousands of acres,” the wheat producer said.
After doing some research of state rain statistics, Stewart said he determined that this past November was the driest in his region in 127 years; and that was followed by the fifth-driest December.
“That paints a picture of the wheat crop out here,” he said. “It’s a drought that will get your attention at this point.”
According to the Oklahoma Mesonet, despite recent rains, 65% of the state remains mired in moderate to exceptional drought, and three-month outlooks reveal little hope for above-average rainfall in stricken areas. Adding to concerns, intense summer heat is already beginning to set in.
According to U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service reports, projected abandonment for winter wheat in the U.S. is likely to be the highest since 2002, with highest levels in Texas and Oklahoma. The crop production report for May estimated 60 million bushels for the 2022 Oklahoma winter wheat harvest – a 48% decline from the 2021 harvest.
Sumit Sharma, a specialist for irrigation management with the OSU Extension, said the drought in the Panhandle region is the worst it has been seen since 2011.
“We had a mild summer with near normal rainfall during the active growing season from May to August last year,” Sharma said. “It was in late August that we started getting temperatures of 100 plus degrees and high winds. From there, things went downhill, and the winter was very mild with little snowfall.”
In a county that averages only about 16 inches of rainfall per year, the first week of August 2021 marked the last measurable rainfall of over half an inch in Cimarron County. Rainfall since has come only in light showers of three-tenths or less.
Stewart said it is likely that he won’t plant a spring sorghum crop this year due to lack of moisture in the soil.
“When you get three-tenths (of an inch of moisture) on soil this dry, it just evaporates,” he said.
Normally, he said, after harvesting his winter wheat, he lets fields rest for a few months to build soil moisture, but a complete lack of moisture causes soil erosion.
“It’s predicted that there’s a chance this could linger into fall, and if that’s the case, we’re going to be in a lot of trouble out here, he predicted.
About one third of Oklahoma Panhandle crops are still dryland crops, and dryland winter wheat is likely to suffer the largest losses this harvest, Sharma said.
“It’s not only that yield will drop, but some crops may not be harvested at all,” Sharma said. “If yield drops too much, farmers won’t harvest because it won’t be worth the cost to take their machinery out there.”
Harvest predictions are more positive moving east in Oklahoma with some locations anticipating average to above-average yields, officials have said.
Source - https://journalrecord.com
