US Wheat Crops Wither, Herds Thin as Spring Drought Deepens

Farmers across the Great Plains are confronting an intense drought that threatens winter wheat harvests and is pushing cattle producers toward costly feed purchases, prompting some to abandon plans to expand their herds.

The dryness is expected to persist through spring after weeks of scant rainfall and a late-winter heat spell that fueled massive pasture fires across the nation's breadbasket. Drought now covers nearly 90% of Nebraska and Oklahoma, with more than half of Nebraska in "extreme" drought. Such conditions have historically driven cattle producers to sell off animals and forced farmers to drill new irrigation wells as rivers run dry.

The coming weeks are critical for growers in the Plains, as winter wheat begins to mature ahead of the summer harvest and before other crops are planted. Without sufficient moisture from rainfall or irrigation, wheat shoots struggle to fill out and produce grain. Some farmers will allow cattle to graze fields instead of attempting to harvest grain.

“We’ve got a lot of modern precedent for these very rough conditions heading into the spring growing season, but this certainly ranks up there with some of the worst we’ve seen,” said Brad Rippey, a meteorologist for the US Department of Agriculture.

Though periodic rains have rolled through parts of the Plains this spring, the region as a whole remains unusually dry after a La Niña winter, marked by low snow and record-breaking warm temperatures, stripped moisture from the soil.