Madison, GA |
All across the state, dry conditions are raising concerns for farmers and producers. A lack of rainfall and expanding drought are already impacting planting decisions and crop outlooks heading into the season.
For producers like Lee Nunn, the biggest concern isn’t the drought itself — it’s how early it arrived this season.
“In droughts in previous years, none of those years that I can remember off the top of my head could we not get a crop in. We had a drought during the crop year. This year is extremely different to me — being this dry, this early. I’ve never seen it in my years of farming to be stressed about getting the crop in the ground,” said Nunn.
While drought is nothing new for Georgia growers, Nunn says even typically reliable crops are showing signs of stress. His wheat crop — one that has rarely struggled for moisture in a quarter century — is now a cause for concern.
“We’ve never really had a problem in the last twenty-five years of growing wheat of ever having a lack of moisture on a wheat crop. I look back at some rainfall data, and we’re at about fifty percent moisture since the first of last September. We’re down about fifteen inches short in that time frame,” Nunn said.
The lack of moisture isn’t just impacting crop development. Nunn says the soil has become so dry and hardened that his equipment is taking a serious toll, making planting more difficult and costly than usual.
“With the lack of moisture, that subsoil machine almost just can’t go in the ground. It is so hard. The red clay we have in this part of the state comes up like bricks and chunks — super hard and very abrasive,” Nunn said. “I would say we get at least half the life of our tips and our wear points on equipment compared to what we’d get with moisture. And honestly, that’s just an expense we can’t afford to take right now.”
Those added expenses come at a time when farmers are already struggling with high input and operating costs, putting even more pressure on producers heading into planting season.
“With the input costs we have right now at all-time highs — diesel fuel, fertilizer, equipment, equipment parts — just everything is at all-time highs,” Nunn said. “Commodity prices have crept up a little bit lately, and I’m thankful for that. But we’ve got to have a crop to sell this fall. Without adequate soil moisture, we can’t till the crop in, and we can’t plant the crop. If there’s no moisture there, there’s no need planting it.”
According to Nunn, time and conditions will play a critical role in determining the rest of the season. If things don’t change, there’s a real chance this year’s crop won’t go in the ground at all.
“We have a pretty long window with cotton — at least another month to plant, up until about the first of June in this part of the state,” Nunn said. “We don’t like to plant much past the first week of June, so we do have some time. But the longer you wait, the less yield you have, and the more problems you have with the cotton crop.”
“That’s not to say you can’t make a crop,” he added. “But the chances are a lot less that you’ll make a perfect crop — and we almost need a perfect crop for these type of situations with inputs and pricing.”
As the season progresses, Georgia producers like Nunn will be watching the forecast closely, hoping for the rain that could mean the difference between a challenging year and no crop at all.