In the central portion of the U.S., extreme heat and little rain is causing concern for drought expansion.
A southwest Nebraska farmer says that he is optimistic his crops will be able to withstand the heat. He told Brownfield Ag News that he is concerned with sorghum and corn stress, but rain will keep them in good shape.
Less than 20% of Nebraska currently has abnormally dry conditions.
Meanwhile, a Kansas State Climatologist says that he is expecting these tough conditions to extend through August.
58% of Kansas is in moderate drought and the region is bracing for the triple-digit temperatures this week.
To the upper Midwest, recent weather is impacting pest pressure.
A Wisconsin State Entomologist shares more on what’s impacting crops and home gardeners.
According to PJ Liesch, “A few things stand out to me that I’ve been seeing some issues with both in crop fields, but also, in home gardens and in ornamental plantings and yards, so flowers and trees, and shrubs, and things like that. And a couple of things that stand out to me would be some pests like earwigs which are mostly active after dark and they can chew notches in leaves, and so if you are a farmer, or a gardener, and you look at your plants and you can’t figure out what’s causing the damage. One suggestion I have been throwing out there to folks is to head out after dark with a flashlight or a headlamp because earwigs can cause damage after dark.”
The entomologist went on to share his tips, including staying proactive.
“Perhaps my best piece of advice is simply to be observant, and I know if you’re a farmer or just a general homeowner, we have a lot on our plate. But, if you are observant and you keep an eye out and you notice something is going on with your crops or plants in your garden or your yard, pay attention to that and then do some detective work— some additional digging to try and figure out what’s going on. Sometimes it can be insect-related, sometimes those symptoms might be caused by a plant disease and a lot of diseases are doing well this year because of the rain too. And so, you need to do a little bit of detective work and try and figure out what’s going on. Once you know what the problem is, in my mind, the battle is half over because then it’s really easy to look up what you need to do next to deal with it,” he explains.
According to USDA, an estimated 20-40% of crops are lost to pest damage globally each year.
