Video: Drought Conditions And The Impacts On Fall Harvesting

by Victoria Bailey

MONROE COUNTY, Miss.(WCBI)—In Mid-July the State of Mississippi fell into level three severe drought status. For many farmers the lack of rain has created irreversible damage to their crops, leaving a negative impact on business.

Rainfall is a vital part to every farmers job.

“We need dry weather to harvest but we also, if you look and see the ground here… the ground is so hard and dry, we need rain to soften the ground up for us to dig the peanuts. We’ve been pretty fortunate so far to get them out, it’s just costing us more,”Peanut Farmer Allen Atkins said.

Costing more along the lines of producing a smaller than usual harvest and keeping the farm equipment in shape.

“Solid needs to be some what moist to where the peanut digger blades dig the peanuts sufficiently and so forth. When it gets too dry like it is now the blades have a hard time penetrating the soil and they dull a lot faster they have to changes those blades a lot more often,”Extension Service Agent Charlie Stokes said.

This area is no stranger to dry conditions however, we haven’t seen a drought of this level in a while.

“Some of the worst drought conditions are in areas to the north, like Monroe County and it’s in what we call a D three drought. On a scale of one to ten…ten being the worst, it’s up their about a 6 or a seven. So I mean it’s obviously a substantial drought. We have not had a lot of rain over the last several months and that’s what’s contributing to the severity of the drought,”Wcbi Meteorologist Isaac Williams said.

The lack of rain also matures the harvesting process.

“This is one of the earliest harvest we’ve ever had cause it stays so hot and dry everything matured out quicker. We’ve had July and August weather in September and that speed everything up.”

November 1st will conclude fall harvesting.