Yielding to drought
County farmers said a few days of steady rain would help their drought-stunted crops, but not as much as it would have a month or two ago when plants still were growing.
Showers and thunderstorms forecast through Saturday would have to produce a lot of rain to make up for the lack of rainfall since May.
The county typically gets 4.1 inches of rain in both May and June, but received 2.4 and 2.8 inches, respectively, this year, said John Darnley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh.
The average rainfall is 4.2 inches in July and 3.9 inches in August. Through July 15, the only data available for that month, the county received 1.3 inches. In August, 2.1 inches has fallen so far, he said.
Temperatures this summer were hotter than usual, but it's the lack of rain that is hurting farmers.
“With the lack of rain, no matter what crop it is, you don't get your yield out of it,” said William Thiele of the Thiele Farm in Cabot.
Corn plants are smaller than normal, and ears of corn aren't as long and round as they usually are, he said.
Soybeans pods, which usually contain three or four beans, are producing two or three beans per pod. Only a few four-bean pods have been found this year, he said.
Hay and alfalfa production on the family farm are poor this year. Thiele said the hay fields usually produce 50 to 60 bales per acre, but some are producing as few as 10 bales per acre. He said he recently harvested just one bale from a four-acre field.
“Our yield has been cut back by at least 50 percent in a lot of cases,” Thiele said.The drought has reduced the moisture content in their silage corn so much that the Thieles are considering chopping it now instead of in September when they usually do, he said. Moisture ferments the silage, so it can be used to feed the farm's 80 dairy cows.“We never chopped corn in August,” he said.Rain would help hay grow, he said. Corn and beans already are as large as they are going to get, but rain would help them a little.“Corn and soybeans are maxed out in growth now,” Thiele said.Ken Metrick, of Metrick's Harvest View Farm and Market in Connoquenessing Township, got a little more rain than the Thieles did this summer, but the drought still affected his produce.He said his sweet corn, snap beans and beets didn't mature correctly and are stressed. Yields are down, and the produce is smaller than usual. They taste good, but don't look as “pretty” as usual, he said.His tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and turnips are growing, and he has been selling them.“Surprisingly, things are growing,” he said.
An inch of rain a week is ideal for farmers, he said. A ground-soaking rain now would help his plants, but it would have helped more earlier in the summer when plants begin producing vegetables.“Rain will help, but not as much as it would have a month or six weeks ago,” Metrick said.He said farmers dealt with too much rain the past two years.
The drought has had less impact on water-based recreation.Dustin Drew, park manager for Moraine and McConnells Mill state parks, said park officials have noticed the lake is a few inches lower than usual, and Slippery Rock Creek has been lower too.“It's not enough to affect our ability to take water out for drinking water (at Moraine),” Drew said. “If the lake would drop significantly, recreation could be affected.”Drew said the impact would likely affect motorboating more than any other activity because shallower water at launch sites could be problematic, but a lot of other water activities, such as kayaking, paddle boarding and fishing would still be doable.He said a shallower Slippery Rock Creek in McConnells Mill may hinder white water rafting, but the key concern for park rangers at both parks is the dryness of the vegetation. He said dry grass and vegetation could catch a spark easily and cause a wildfire to spread quickly.“I think we're a little more observant of the grilling and charcoal fires,” Drew said.
