Extreme Weather Issues Now Plaguing Agriculture
June 30, 2021 Each year, when CropLife magazine quizzes its readers regarding the key issues going into an upcoming growing season, weather always ranks high on the list. As many observers have pointed out over the years, this is the one, major wildcard each year that agriculture has little control over, but that can “make or break” the profitability of a season.
In 2021, weather has indeed dominated a lot of headlines across the country – and not in a good way. In particular, approximately half of the continental U.S. is currently experiencing drought conditions. On top of this, many states in the Southwest and Pacific Northwest have seen many unbroken days where the temperature has routinely hit 100 degrees plus. Facing such weather-related obstacles, many Western U.S. growers are having to ration which of their crops receive irrigation water (normally high-value specialty crops) and which are having to go thirsty (fruit trees and grapes).
Loading ...Luckily, thus far, key row crop growers across the heartland of the country have not experienced such weather extremes as their Western neighbors. In fact, according to USDA figures, U.S. farmers are expected to plant a record amount of acres this year. Overall, growers are expected to have planted 182 million acres of corn and soybeans in 2021 when all the acres are tallied up. This would represent an all-time high and up roughly eight million acres from 2020.
Of course, this increased acreage for the two major row crops is a result of growers trying to take advantage of high agricultural prices after years of tough market conditions during the 2019 and 2020 growing seasons. At this point, it remains to be seen if the extreme weather conditions now plaguing the Western states starts moving more eastward as the summer months hit full stride and if this would derail what could otherwise be a positive growth year for corn and soybean growers.
Subscribe Today For
