The drought monitor for Kansas has improved dramatically for Northeast Kansas as the predicted rains and more happened. The rest of the state is out of anything resembling even dry conditions. The forecast is for possible accumulating snow as this is being written for Sunday. Since the weather is the major news here, let’s review the good, the bad, and the ugly of this situation.
The Good
• Most of the western half of the state should have a full moisture profile in the soil. This is good news for winter annual crops, perennial pastures, alfalfa, and even for spring seeded crops. The weather pattern prediction for winter indicates a wetter, more typical weather pattern. This means winter annual crops should have adequate soil moisture till spring and even good moisture to plant summer row crops. It also means wheat and canola should be better protected from freezing temperatures and desiccation over the winter.
• Some areas such as the sandy soils area south of the Arkansas River with this much precipitation in a short period of time should see some recharge of the aquifer, especially since the aquifer is fairly shallow.
• Reservoirs across the state also saw significant gains in water levels.
The Bad
• The most obvious is the halt to harvesting summer crops. There is still a great deal of corn left to be harvested as well as soybeans. Grain sorghum harvest had barely started and there are still potential feed crops to be swathed and baled.
• Some nitrogen fertilizer may have leached or even been lost to denitrification. Not a big deal but money is money and fertilizers aren’t free.
• Some areas will lose wheat that had emerged due to standing water and much of the rest is pale. Also roots systems will be less developed.
• Corn is waiting to be cut and while the grain can weather this rain fairly well, some will lodge or even totally go down as stalk conditions deteriorate.
The Ugly
• The soils in the area are saturated and many spots have standing water. It will be several weeks for most producers until they can get back in the field at best. On sandy soils, perhaps a bit sooner, but even there it will take warm, dry conditions. Ground that was heavily worked and not yet planted may take even longer.
• There are excellent soybean fields, many of them, still to be harvested. As this conditions significant yield losses from shattering are likely. Milo conditions can degrade rapidly although a hard freeze would help with harvest.
• A lot of potential wheat ground will likely go as prevented planting so hopefully producers have insurance to cover some of the loss. Even if wheat is planted after November 1, increased seeding rates are in order as well as some open weather.
• A lot of wheat was planted early for grazing and some looked quite good before the rains. The question is when can cattle be turned out and not destroy the field.
Dr. Victor L. Martin is the agriculture instructor/coordinator for Barton Community College. He can be reached at 620-792-9207, ext. 207.
