Spared by drought, growers help farmers to the west
GRAND FORKS — As the drought in western North Dakota spreads throughout the state, the Grand Forks region’s continued healthy land is becoming a lifeline for lands being deemed in emergency states by federal authorities.
The latest report from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows Grand Forks and Nelson are the only counties in the state not considered to be somewhere on the drought scale. The agency listed 36 percent of the state as experiencing extreme drought and 95 percent of the state as at least abnormally dry. The 5 percent of the state that’s clear? Grand Forks, Nelson and northern portions of Griggs, Steele and Traill counties.
“We’re doing pretty good, ” said Sam Haugen, an agriculture and natural resources specialist with North Dakota State University Extension in Grand Forks County.
“This drought, especially in our county, has been so sporadic,” Haugen said. “We have parts that are still a little bit wet, and parts that could actually use some rain right now.”
Katelyn Hain, with NDSU Extension in Nelson County, said there similarly seem to be areas in the county that have received plenty of rain, and others that need more water. Overall, the crop should be OK, she said.
Haugen spent some time out in Carrington, N.D., this week, and said conditions there are very dry. West of there, it’s much worse.
Pitching in
On July 16 the U.S. Department of Agriculture opened up Conservation Reserve Program lands for emergency haying. Farmers enrolled in CRP receive a yearly rent payment from the federal government to not farm environmentally sensitive land. The lands are made available for haying and grazing during severe droughts. Grand Forks County is home to about 74,000 acres of CRP land and is within 150 miles of affected areas, making the acreage available for farmers and ranchers in need.
Thursday, additional CRP lands, including CRP wetlands and buffer practices were opened, too, in what Grand Forks County Farm Service Agency director Terry Miller called an unusual move exemplifying the urgent nature of the drought.
A farmer in Grand Forks County might receive a call from someone out west, who will ask permission to hay CRP land, Miller said. The parties would then submit an application to the FSA. Miller said the agency has been approving applications the same day.
“We are making it a high priority,” he said.
Once an application is approved, the interested party must come and collect the hay themselves. The CRP land is free to enrolled parties.
Grand Forks farmer Paul Sproule received such a call last week, and said the application has been completed and the western North Dakota rancher will come soon to collect the hay.
Haugen said NDSU Extension has been aiding in the drought and CRP efforts by identifying plant species in reserve areas to see if the plants are suitable to feed livestock.
‘Timely rains’
Grand Forks is slightly under its average annual rainfall, but the region is right around normal levels thanks to sporadic storms.
“We’ve had those timely rains,” Haugen said.
Grand Forks received nearly 4 inches of rain June 28, and has been hit with more thunderstorms and scattered showers than other regions.
National Weather Service meteorologist Greg Gust said Grand Forks is just below—by 0.087 inches—its normal annual rainfall, but is slightly ahead of typical precipitation since June 1.
The late June storm essentially carried the local wheat crop, Gust said.
“That pushed us to at or above normal precipitation,” he said.
Fargo is currently 4.8 inches below its typical annual rainfall, Gust said, and 2.65 inches below normal since June 1.
Minot is currently 5.87 inches below its normal rainfall levels, according to a recent weather service report. Bismarck is 4.95 inches below normal.
Gust said some of the Drought Monitor class D-4, or exceptional drought, areas in western North Dakota and eastern Montana represent the worst droughts those areas have seen in 100 years.
The eastern portion of North Dakota is less susceptible to drought conditions, Gust said, largely because of clay-based soil and about 6 inches more in annual rainfall. While it can take a while for drought conditions to develop in the Red River Valley, western North Dakota easily slips into drought. This year, a lack of snowfall after the new year in southwest North Dakota and less spring precipitation than normal led to extreme drought.
“We can go a couple inches below normal on this (eastern) part of the state and not notice it,” he said. “Out west, the difference shows up fast.”
But additional rain in Grand Forks in the coming week or so will be critical for local farmers.
“A lot of the plants, corn especially, is at that point where it needs a lot of water now just to finish up to get a good yield,” Haugen said.
Miller said about another inch of rain in the next couple weeks would put Grand Forks farmers in a good spot. They started to receive some of that rain Friday afternoon, and more is expected early next week.
“We’re going to need some rain if we’re going to get that maximum yield,” Haugen said.
Article by Andrew Hazzard / Grand Forks Herald