Corn Harvest Damaged by Lengthy Drought
HUTCHINSON - Extreme heat and a severe water shortage have chopped this year's corn crop drastically across Kansas, especially for dryland corn.
This time of year usually is hectic across the state as grain trucks line up to dump harvested corn at grain elevators. But those trucks are only trickling in as farmers come to grips with a grim harvest they hope is only a one-year anomaly.
"There is not much full swing here," said Joe Schauf, manager of the Nickerson Farmers' Co-op Elevator. "I don't think there will be such a thing."
The Hutchinson News reported that in the past two years, Schauf said his elevator has taken in 900,000 bushels of corn annually, including some days when 100,000 bushels came in.
During the current harvest, the best day so far was Sept. 12, when 40,000 bushels were brought into the elevator.
"This year will be lucky to hit 300,000 bushels total," Schauf said. "There is no dryland corn to speak of. It was chopped early for feed."
In southwest Kansas, some farmers are reporting average to good corn yields, but only in a few fields. Independent crop consultant Loarn Bucl said Haskell County, where he lives, had 1.8 inches to 3.8 inches of rainfall from August 2010 to this August, when typical rainfall for that period is 18 inches.
Bucl said he has never seen a year so dry, including 1980 when there was record-breaking heat. The difference between that year and now is producers were pumping a lot more water from irrigation wells three decades ago.
"I didn't see the poor yields we're seeing today because our irrigation pumped three to four times as much as they are today," he said. "If we had 10 more inches of rain, we would have had near normal yields."
Instead, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports Kansas lost nearly 138 million bushels of corn worth more than $965 million last year.
"We can absorb one bad year," Schauf said. "But two to three years make it tough not just for the producer, but the grain elevators."
The USDA estimates Kansas lost more than $1.77 billion in wheat, corn, sorghum and soybeans in 2011, based on a comparison of current USDA production estimates and average historic production.
The bad numbers are expected to continue through sorghum and soybean harvests, which start in a few weeks.
Even with the drought, at least the wheat crop came in better than expected, Schauf said.
"We hit a five-year average, which was better than we expected," he said. "That won't happen with corn. Our five-year average at this elevator is 600,000 bushels in the elevator. We'll be lucky to hit 50 percent."
Larry Goerzen, grain coordinator at Mid Kansas Coop Association in Moundridge, said farmers are protected against the poor yields.
"Most people take out crop insurance," he said. "Even if they are hit hard with a drought, crop insurance should give them some guarantee on their income. Everyone is disappointed, but most farmers will weather the storm."
