ROW CROPS

20 Phrases Every Farmer Actually Mutters About Rain

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 20:35:14 GMT

If there’s one topic that unites farmers across all sectors of ag, it’s rain. It’s more than just weather on the farm, it determines your profits, your schedule and your mood all wrapped into one frustrating package. And it doesn’t matter if it’s planting season, mid-summer or the final push before harvest, our entire lives revolve around what’s happening in the sky.

If two or more farmers are talking, you can bet rain will come up in the conversation within the first five minutes. Here’s a look at some of the most common phrases you’ll hear when farmers start talking about rain:

“We could use some rain.”
This is the go-to phrase farmers have said since the beginning of time. It’s a simple, familiar line heard everywhere from church parking lots to town meetings, starting at planting and sticking around through the end of harvest.
“It would be nice if it stopped raining.”
Ah, the full-circle moment. Just two weeks ago we were begging for a slight shower. Now it’s been raining cats and dogs for four straight days.
“How much rain did you get?”
This is more than small talk; it’s actually a competition between farmers, and there is a winner and a loser.
“How much rain did so-and-so get?”
Because we all know that one farmer magically got all the rain, again.
“Did you see the forecast for the week?”
This is a question that leads farmers to check five weather apps that all have five different answers.
“That cloud is looking pretty dark.”
If this phrase is said on any farm, everyone will turn to look and offer their opinion on if it’s actually going to rain or not.
“It always seems to miss us.”
Every time the radar shows a line of storms, somehow it splits, shifts or drifts just enough to leave you high and dry.
“We needed that.”
This is often said with a kind of relief that comes after waiting days or weeks, when even a small rain feels like a lifeline.
“It was just enough to settle the dust.”
This is farmer speak for: it looked better than it was, but we’ll still take it.
“The radar made it look like we’d get rain, but we didn’t get a drop.”
All the signs pointed to a downpour, but somehow the sky held back.
“It split and went north again.”
Of course it did. It always does. It never rains where it’s supposed to.
“The neighbor got an inch, and we got nothing.”
This can go one of two ways: You’re ticked that you didn’t get the rain, or you’re thankful that you didn’t get more of it.
“It’s too wet to get anything done now.”
Welcome to farming: Nothing goes according to plan, and every drought seems to end with a downpour.
“Hopefully it holds off ‘til we get this hay in.”
A tempting statement that all but guarantees a pop-up thunderstorm. Mother Nature never checks your schedule.
“At least we get a break.”
This is said when the rain slows work down but gives everyone a moment to catch their breath.
“We’re overdue.”
This is usually muttered out of practicality and frustration, recognizing that the dry spell has gone on longer than expected and something has to give soon.
“It was just enough to green things up.”
It wasn’t a drought-buster, but it was good enough to make everything look better.
“How long do you think this dry stretch will last?”
Asked like someone might have insider info. Nobody does, but that won’t stop the theories, calendar comparisons or 2012 references.
“You could see the rain line from here.”
Another version of “we missed it,” but with more drama and eyewitness testimony.
“I could be a meteorologist.”
Said when the forecast flips unexpectedly, reminding everyone that sometimes even the experts are just guessing.

Whether it’s not enough, way too much or the perfect amount, rain brings out every emotion in a farmer’s toolkit — hope, stress, gratitude, frustration, envy and relief. And no matter what the forecast says, one thing is always true: If you’re a farmer, you’ll never stop talking about rain.

July Weather Outlook: Goodbye Rain, Hello Heat

Tue, 24 Jun 2025 21:02:27 GMT

The Pacific Jet Stream has been going strong since early spring, sending heavy rains down through the Ohio River Valley, delaying farmers’ planting efforts there, then more recently, moving large amounts of moisture into the central Corn Belt.

“Nobody would have thought three months ago that we were going to have this much rain occurring across key crop areas, especially in the southern half of the Plains and in the Delta and Tennessee River Basin,” says Drew Lerner, president and senior agricultural meteorologist of World Weather.

But be advised, the engine driving that jet stream is about to turn off, says John Hoomenuk of EmpireWeather.com . He anticipates that by early July, some farmers will see those heavy rain events turn into a trickle.

Weather outlook for early July.

(BAM Weather)

Weather Brewing For July

“As we get into the second week of July or so, we’ll see the ridge push a little further north, and we’ll see some drier forecasts starting to appear, starting in Kansas and Nebraska, and then spreading a little bit into southwestern and central Iowa at times as well,” Hoomenuk says.

“That’s really caught our attention, because we just haven’t seen that [pattern] so far this year, and it’s a pretty big change compared to where we’ve been,” he adds.

As July goes on and August nears, Hoomenuk says the weather data indicate the jet stream will go up into Canada and drop into the Great Lakes.

If that occurs, he says farmers in Indiana, Illinois and Ohio are likely to get some precipitation dropping on the east side of the ridge. But across the Central Plains, Kansas, Nebraska, Dakotas, and maybe even into parts of Iowa, farmers will see their conditions trend a little drier.

“I think that’s not a huge concern just yet, but it’s a pretty big change up compared to where we’ve been the last couple of weeks,” Hoomenuk told AgriTalk host, Chip Flory, on Tuesday.

Drought Risks Remain In Place

The outlook for drier weather in July is not a surprise, based on the patterns some meteorologists saw shaping up last winter.

“The central United States is at about a 60% drought risk. Some of the best weather forecast models we have out there are trying to put the epicenter of that drought somewhere between Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa and southern Minnesota by the time we get into July and August,” says Eric Snodgrass, principal atmospheric scientist for Nutrien.

Much of the western U.S. has been enduring dry, hot conditions already this year. Much of the central Midwest is about to experience the same.

(The National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the United States Department of Agriculture and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.)

“When you think about those particular states, developing drought from spring to summer in any year is somewhere in the neighborhood of 28% to 38%,” he says. “Essentially, the risk is doubled this year.”

Snodgrass explains the canary in the coal mine for a drought will come from a combination of the Gulf of Alaska ocean temperatures and the Bermuda high, which is an area of high pressure that can influence weather patterns and tropical systems. If the Gulf of Alaska ocean temperatures begin dropping this summer, that’s a sign moisture will be lacking.

The silver lining, Hoomenuk says, is many farmers have either had excess or sufficient moisture this spring, so no alarm bells have been ringing yet for corn and soybean crops that are now in rapid growth.

His concern is the current weather patterns will stagnate, causing temperatures to rise.

“Most of the long-range data we’re seeing, if you look at July as a whole, is showing some pretty substantial [temperature] numbers in the Central Plains. We’re talking somewhere between four and five degrees above normal in some areas of Kansas and Nebraska, two or three degrees above normal for the month on average, surrounding that in parts of southwestern Iowa and the Dakotas,” he says.

As for states further east, such as Indiana, Michigan and Ohio, Hoomenuk says farmers there will likely see temperatures “closer to normal” for July, based on data he’s reviewed.

“The thing I keep seeing is temperatures looking to be about normal, maybe slightly warmer than normal – just a couple days of heat followed by a cool down and some rain, which is is pretty ideal,” he says. “It doesn’t seem like we’ll get into that long-term heat there in those eastern regions of the U.S, so the concern level out there is pretty low right now heading into July.”

Your next read: Crop Quality in the Midwest: Most States Soar, Some Flounder

U.S. Crop Conditions Remain Above Average

Mon, 29 Jul 2024 20:48:48 GMT

CME block cheese made up ground lost during the tail end of last week, settling at $1.9500 per pound, two cents higher, with one lot traded. Barrels rose to $1.9750 per pound, up a half cent, with zero loads exchanged. Meanwhile, NDM trade remains healthy, with prices adding $0.0075 and climbing to $1.2400 per pound, with nine lots sold. Butter prices, however, slipped to $3.0875 per pound, giving up $0.0025, with two loads exchanged.

Producer margins remain noteworthy as Q4 Class III milk futures got a boost today, rising to $20.57 per hundredweight, up 11 cents, and Class IV Q4 prices remained steady at $21.41 per hundredweight. At the same time, nearby soybean futures tumbled to $10.5475 per bushel today, down 22.75 cents to the lowest price since November 2020.

Crop conditions across the country remain exemplary with 68% of the current corn crop rated good-to-excellent, a slight improvement from last week’s 67%. The soybean crop is performing well, too, with 67% of the crop rated good-to excellent, dipping marginally from last week’s 68%.

Plan For a Profitable Fall by Reducing Shrink

Tue, 15 Jun 2021 18:14:01 GMT

Now that it is summer, we are starting to think ahead to fall harvest. Minimizing ensiling losses or shrink can maximize the profitability of our corn silage harvest. Many publications have shown typical losses of 10% to 20% shrink from harvest to consumption by the cow. However, a slight percentage decrease in shrink can have an impact on profitability. The following are four areas that shrink can be avoided.

Field to bunker: Harvest at 35% to 40% dry matter. Ensiling too wet or too dry will lead to improper packing and poor fermentation.

Bunker: Avoid introducing oxygen into the pack to help reduce spoilage. When exposed to air, yeast and molds can grow and increase the spoilage of corn silage. Using an oxygen barrier in addition to a protective plastic barrier can reduce shrink by 3% to 5%. Silage inoculants will also enhance the fermentation process leading to less dry matter loss.

Bunker to Feeding: The goal of defacing silage is to cause minimal disturbance to the silage pack. Keeping a smooth bunker face will help avoid air from entering the pack. Shoot for 12 inches of forage removable per day.

Refusals: Refusals are also considered shrink because they are lost dry matter not being consumed. Provide enough feed for 2% to 5% refusals for transition cows and 1% to 3% for all other groups. Longer particle sizes can also lead to increased refusals. A particle size over 19 mm can increase sorting tendencies.

Maximizing Profit

Given the outlook on fall corn prices, minimizing shrink can be a significant factor in cutting feed costs., The rule has been to multiply the price of corn by a factor of 10 when calculating the value of harvested corn silage. Recent outlooks for December corn are around $6.10/bushel. Using December prices, we can assume corn silage prices to be approximately $61 per ton. If the average production of silage is around 15 tons per acre, a reduction of shrink by 5% can save $45.75 per acre of harvested corn silage.

Proper ensiling practices can help alleviate the cost of shrinkage from spoilage, while proper ration balancing and particle size can decrease income over feed costs. If long particle size is leading to sorting, dry matter intake is not reaching full potential. The lost dry matter intake will also lead to decreased milk yield and thus decreasing overall profit.