Drought Sucking Yields From Tobacco, Field Crops

Source from:  By Walt Reichert/Sentinel-News Associate Editor 08/18/2005

Local farmers are letting cows graze their soybeans or rolling the crop up for hay. Others are feeding hay to their cattle to supplement pastures that have turned crispy. All of the state is in the midst of a drought. The National Weather Service is reporting that 30-plus counties in the Bluegrass region, including Shelby, are experiencing a severe drought. The area is more than 6 inches below normal rainfall since April 1 and just over 3 inches below average rainfall for the last four weeks, according to the Kentucky Agricultural Statistics Service (KASS). The combination of dry weather hurting yields and the drop in the number of acres planted means Kentucky tobacco farmers will likely harvest almost a third less tobacco than they did last year. KASS is forecasting a 31 percent drop in burley production this season. Farmers are expected to harvest 142.5 million pounds of tobacco from 75,000 acres, the smallest number of pounds since 1927. Farmers across the county say tobacco is good where it is irrigated or where it was planted early. Later planted fields suffered from the dry weather. Black shank has also reduced yields considerably in Shelby County. The dry weather has largely kept blue mold at bay. Across the state, the condition of tobacco in the field was reported as 8 percent very poor, 19 percent poor, 28 percent fair, 38 percent good and 7 percent excellent, according to KASS. That is a decline from a week ago when the majority of farmers were reporting tobacco as good or excellent. Topping of burley tobacco is about average with farmers reporting 67 percent of fields topped, compared to 65 percent a year ago. The crop was 11 percent cut, behind last year's 20 percent and 14 percent on average. Corn and early-planted soybeans have fared fairly well across the state, but late-planted bean yields are expected to be down dramatically from last year, especially in the central part of the state. Across Kentucky, 44 percent of farmers are calling their corn crops poor or fair, while 47 percent report good or excellent crops. At this point, 55 percent of farmers are calling their soybean crops poor or fair. Enditem