The hardship that farmers face is sometimes blamed on government agricultural policy. However, the biggest problem in many areas has been from Mother Nature herself. The drought in 2011 in the plains has caused total losses for some crop farmers, particularly on the Texas and Oklahoma border. Experts at Texas A&M University say as much as $5.2 billion has been lost in agricultural revenue as the land has dried up, crops have perished, and the topsoil has dried into dust that blows in the wind. Even systems that efficiently keep crops watered have failed. Crops maintained by center pivot irrigation have died out because of the stress of the heat, despite being adequately watered; the same has occurred throughout Oklahoma and Texas as well as Kansas.

Despite taking precautions to reduce the stress on crops, farmer Jerod McDaniel has lost a great deal of crop yield. Land that would support up to 185 bushels an acre returned a total loss, even though McDaniel cut down the plantings and began irrigation in early spring to prepare the soil. The seeds were even planted early. Other fields fared better, although McDaniel could not work out a formula because one field that survived was planted early on, and the other one later in the season. The intense heat is thought to have played in a role in killing off the crops.

The Dust Bowl of the 1930s is still fresh in the minds of older generations. Hardships that grew out of that remain solid through oral tradition and folklore, and are thoroughly described in The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Farmers today face uncertainty because of the rapid changes in farming conditions; Texhoma was able to pull out 6.2 million bushels of corn in 2010, but not even three million are expected in 2011. Corn producers for Texhoma Wheet Growers, Inc., for example, have fared so badly that the company has introduced options for canceling contracts, which include service fees per each bushel lost.

Financial experts say the effects of the current drought might last for years. On a financial level, farmers with just a percentage of their land covered may only recover input costs, according to Rowdy Slavin of First National Bank. A rippling effect could have an impact on indemnities as well. Farmers like McDaniel have fared better because he has a more diverse array crops and production areas. Some fields have received a little rain, but the 34 year old farmer hit a roadblock when some of the lost corn crop turned up potentially toxic, so plans for grazing the land are now up in the air.

The natural environment complicates things not only for farmers, but for policy makers in Washington as well. Jerod McDaniel’s stand is that crop insurance is more important than direct subsidy payments. Of course, this might not be the position of every farmer, so a complicated road ahead lies for both farmers and government policy. Brief changes in the weather have opened the door to planting wheat, but even good farmers like McDaniel face uncertainty as to how much is sufficient to bring the crop yield up enough to turn a significant profit.

Sources:

DTN Headline News (http://dtn.usfarmcredit.com/index.cfm?show=4&id=0702BF4D)

Environmental Science in the 21^st Century (http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/resources/environment-book/dustbowlandaftermath.html)