Crop yield crucible nears, farmers say, as drought worsens

MALTA – Entering summer as drought spreads, farmers in DeKalb County are nearing the turning point of their growing season – when weather is the only thing left to determine if crop yields will be bountiful.

“There’s not a lot we can do at this point for this given crop because we’ve put all the inputs into it so far, and so we’re pretty much set for what we can do,” said Mike Schweitzer, a Malta based farmer. “There’s not a whole lot we can do to mitigate any risks at this point other than wait for rain, since we don’t have any irrigation.”

Schweitzer, 40, knows farming well. He grew up working on a mid-sized family farm with his dad and now his sons – Eli Schweitzer, 12, and Warren Scheitzer, 14 – help him tend to the same fields. He farmed through the severe drought of 2012 and has grown accustomed to the perils of making a living off of the land.

Greg Millburg, 59, of Sycamore, the DeKalb County Farm Bureau manager for the past 17 years, said he doesn’t think a dry spring means that this year’s crop yield will be a bust yet for area farmers. He said if the weather trends continue, however, production and farmer income could suffer.

“I’d say there’s some concern or worry that we just need to get some precipitation,” Millburg said.

There’s not a lot we can do at this point for this given crop because we’ve put all the inputs into it so far, and so we’re pretty much set for what we can do. There’s not a whole lot we can do to mitigate any risks at this point other than wait for rain, since we don’t have any irrigation.”

—  Malta-based farmer Mike Schweitzer

This year, the Schweitzer family planted a few fields of corn and soybeans in the middle of April. Schweitzer said this is earlier than normal – to hedge the risk of crops failing.

Rain prevented the family from planting more during the final weeks of April, setting them back a few weeks from where they’d like to be. Since the beginning of May, however, when it dried up enough for the family to make progress planting other fields, the weather has become notably arid.

“It’s been extremely dry compared to normal,” Schweitzer said. “I think the biggest difference is the lack of a widespread rain event. Whereas we’ve picked up some stray showers here and there on certain fields, there hasn’t really been a system that has given us uniform rain coverage.”

Those dry conditions created challenges for emerging of the crops, Schweitzer said. The Schweitzers are exercising weed control until the crops are tall enough to canopy. To help the crops grow nutrients, such as nitrogen, are being applied to the soil. The family can’t control the weather, however.

“It’s something that you adapt to over time, knowing that the biggest factor that controls how much you yield and what your income potential is is the weather, which you don’t control. So it can be scary at times,” Schweitzer said.

If crops fail, Federal Crop Insurance – funded through Congress every five years through what is commonly called the Farm Bill – is the main stop-gap to prevent farmers from going out of business, Schweitzer said.

The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 – the farm bill – will expire at the end of the federal 2023 fiscal year. In response, the DeKalb County Farm Bureau plans to co-sponsor meetings to get input on the new bill officials are expected to discuss in the the fall legislative session, Millburg said.

Schweitzer said the money collected through crop insurance typically only covers the costs of production, and sometimes not all of those expenses, meaning the family is still losing money when crop insurance is collected.

That’s only ever happened once to the lifelong farmer – 2012, as a result of a severe drought.

Still, the growing season for Schweitzer is not a wash yet.

“I wouldn’t be doing this job if I weren’t inherently optimistic, but hopefully we get a turn around here and start getting some precipitation. And then I think the outlook would be pretty decent,” Scheitzer said. “I think we’ve probably already taken a little bit out of the top end of this crop through with the weather conditions.”