Farmers Prepare for Planting Amid Signs Drought Is Still Plaguing Midwest, South

Heartland and Southern farmers from Georgia to Nebraska began their spring tilling this week amid disquieting reports that some of the nation’s most productive corn-belt land is still suffering from drought.

No one is yet predicting a repeat of last year’s costly drought, since rains later in the spring could offset current concern.

But early signs are worrisome, particularly because drought has already cut the winter wheat crop by at least 25% in Kansas alone, and is affecting winter wheat in other Great Plains states at a time when world grain stockpiles are already low.

In the Midwest, where farmers are preparing to plant summer crops, the major concern is in Iowa, historically one of the biggest producers of corn and soybeans, two of the nation’s most important crops. Agricultural meteorologists are also worried about prospects in productive areas of Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri and Georgia.

And some climate experts report that weather patterns that foreshadowed last summer’s drought are again present this season.

“We’ve never really recovered from last year’s drought,” said Harry J. Hillaker, Iowa’s agriculture department climatologist. “We have quite a bit less soil moisture available right now than we did a year ago and much less than what we’d normally have in the middle of April. . . . The weather patterns (now) remind me a lot of last year.”

This week, Iowa reported moisture needed to germinate seeds was deficient in 75% of the topsoil and that root-sustaining subsoil in 94% of the state is short of moisture.

Corn, the country’s largest grain crop, is the foundation of the U.S. food chain. It is used to feed cattle, dairy cows, hogs and poultry and is a source of sweeteners and cooking oils. The drought cut corn production nationwide by almost a third in 1988, and led to generally higher food prices. So, too, did a soybean harvest that was down more than 20%.

The pocket of drought centered over Iowa extends east into Illinois and south into Missouri, in major corn and bean producing areas.

Fifteen Illinois counties--13% of the state--bordering Iowa and Missouri are short of subsoil moisture necessary to sustain crops this summer. Some of those areas have had only about half of their normal rainfall over the last 12 months. Other areas in the state’s prime growing region have had a 20% rain shortfall during the last year.

“If a 20% shortfall is enough to be a drought in your mind then the drought is not over,” said Wayne M. Wendland, of the Illinois state water survey. “In the western part of the state (the drought) is not over in terms of precipitation.”

“I figure there is a very good chance--probably about an 80% chance--that there will be a shortage of water for crops in northern Missouri this summer,” said Wayne L. Decker, a University of Missouri department of atmospheric science climatologist.

There is concern, too, in Wisconsin, where drought last summer sharply reduced hay and corn crops. This spring farmers are feeding dairy cattle costly hay shipped in from other states.

Deep Layer of Dry Soil

“Gravediggers report that below the moist soil on the surface there is quite a deep layer of dry soil,” said Douglas R. Clark, the state’s climatologist. “The planting season should go fine but without that (subsoil) reserve there’s no moisture for crops to draw on. Things weren’t this bad last year (at this time).”

“My estimation is that our chances for dry weather this summer are good,” said Gayther L. Plummer, state climatologist at the University of Georgia’s Institute of Natural Resources. “. . . The factors that I think contributed to last summer’s drought will again come into the picture,” Plummer said, echoing other state climatologists.

Last year’s drought slowed national economic growth, raised food prices and left an estimated 15,000 large-scale commercial farmers financially weakened.

Times researcher Edith Stanley contributed to this story from Atlanta.