By ERICA SMITH, The Decatur Daily
DECATUR, Ala. (AP) — Abnormally dry weather in north Alabama may have ruined corn plantings and is damaging other crops.
“The hot, dry weather has just hit the corn at the absolute worst time,” said Brady Peek, who farms approximately 1,800 acres in western Limestone County. “We’ll be lucky if we even have a corn crop. Yields are going to be significantly below average.”
Ashley Ravenscraft, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Huntsville, said portions of Lawrence and Morgan counties have been characterized as “abnormally dry” since June 21. In Limestone County, 60% of the county has been in a moderate drought since June 28.
From June 21 through Monday, Decatur received only 0.24 of an inch of rainfall and Moulton had 0.53 of an inch, Ravenscraft said. Athens, she said, had 1.78 inches of rain in that span but she attributes the higher number to pop-up showers the last several days. Ravenscraft said the average rainfall in July is 4.49 inches.
“Typically, around this time of year you’re getting some kind of rainfall from either tropical systems or your summertime storms or a weaker disturbance that will come through and produce some rain. This is typically one of our wettest months out of the year,” she said.
Ravenscraft said the three counties would need about 4 inches of rain in a month to get out of the drought and abnormally dry categories.
“All signals point to at least abnormally dry conditions through the late summer, early fall,” she said.
Peek said he rotates what he grows every year. This year he has grown wheat, soybeans and corn.
Peek planted his soybeans in the last week of April and the second week of June and will harvest in early to mid-September. He planted his corn in mid-April and will harvest in August. He said everything will have to be harvested earlier due to the dry weather. Peek has already harvested his wheat.
While he said his corn crop may be a complete loss, other crops are also suffering.
“Beans still have a ways to go. I was looking at some this morning and they clearly need a rain,” Peek said Tuesday. “They’re still hanging on. There’s still a chance that we can make a crop there.”
Peek said it is too early to tell what yield he will get from his soybeans.
“I would say that they have sustained some damage. How much, it’s just hard to point yet. The beans definitely need a rain to keep hanging on,” he said.
Peek said the crops would be better able to handle the hot weather if there was rain. He said it is common to have hot, dry spells but usually they come in August.
“It’s nearly a death wish on a lot of these crops to be like this in June and July,” Peek said. “Once you get this dry it’s just really hard to overcome that.”
Steve Brown, cotton agronomist for the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service, said corn has a narrow period during which it needs a lot of moisture or it will not pollinate well.
“Cotton, we still have time to recover assuming we get some rainfall,” Brown said. “It definitely hurts it.”
He said the cotton yield could be cut by 50% this year.
“If we go another three or four weeks with lack of water with this kind of heat, it will take a serious toll on all crops. We could lose 60% of our yield or even 70%,” Brown said.
Peek said one of his farms has irrigation, but irrigating is expensive. He said mass irrigation across north Alabama is not possible. “We’ve got the water, we just don’t have the infrastructure in place to truly be able to utilize it.”
Brown said only about 10% of Alabama crops are irrigated. “If you have an extreme drought, it might give you a little bit of water, but it can’t sustain the crop through a significant, lengthy drought period.”
Mark Thompson, owner of One Stop Lawn and Landscaping in Decatur, said he stresses to customers the importance of watering lawns and plants as often as possible.