(PLYMOUTH COUNTY, IA) - In any profession, people want to educate themselves. That's exactly what Northwest Iowa farmers were doing last week during the ISU Extension's Pro-Ag Outlook Forums.
Three Ag experts talked to farmers around the Plymouth County area...one of them focusing heavily on this summer's drought. Siouxland News caught up with a couple of those farmers and one of those experts to find out what happened to crops this summer and what we can expect in the future.
"When you're going through fields at the end of July, you should not see areas of cornfield that are totally dead," said Joel DeJong, an ISU Extension Field Agronomist referring to pictures of the summer's drought-stricken crops.
The room full of farmers instantly knew what this ag expert was referring to. DeJong's research proves this dry summer here in Siouxland certainly hit crops hard, but it wasn't the case for every part of Northwest Iowa.
"We had some neighborhoods that really struggled that had very poor yields. They ran out of water. We had other areas, because we have very good soils and rooting death was very good, we actually did not run out of water," said DeJong.
Farmers agreed with him.
"It shows that we're in no better shape than we were a year ago. And we're going to need very timely rains or a lot of moisture through the winter to look forward to a crop that's at least average," said John Schneider, a corn, soybean and hog producer.
"I knew there was a lot of places that had surprising crops this year and others got almost nothing. I knew the one thing going into this year, there was gonna be a lot of variation. And he just verified that," said Jerry Wendt, a corn and soybean farmer.
"So you can see the county averages in the state. We had really good recharge. If you look at May last year, we had more rain in Northwest Iowa than anywhere else in the state," explained DeJong as he referenced to his research.
Because of this year's drought, the soil deep down under those crops that once held a good amount of moisture to keep crops surviving is no longer there.
"So even though our top five feet of soil moisture's pretty similar to what we saw last year at this time, I think we're probably in a little worse shape because those deeper depths probably ran empty. Those are the ones we really don't measure," said DeJong.
Luckily, this forum aimed at teaching these farmers how to plan ahead.
"I just think we need to manage somewhat to plan for what the moisture situation is. You know, look for the crop yield data. Look for crops that are drought resistant, that are moisture defensive, however you want to put it," said Schneider.
"Just like any businessman, you got to get more efficient every year. Obviously, we want to stay I business even in tough years like this where you got to keep your eye on the ball," said Farmer Wendt.
DeJong recommends taking a look at the farming system keeping in mind just not next year, but for the next five to 10 years so they can be successful in the long term, not just one year at a time.
