Ohio experienced a historic drought last year – escalated by higher temperatures and decreased rainfall.
This summer, the state is seeing the opposite weather extreme.
WYSO’s Shay Frank sat down with the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s Director, Brian Baldridge, to discuss the impact of last year’s drought on farmers and how this year, Ohio’s farms are facing different challenges from lasting rainfall.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Shay Frank: So can you give us a quick rundown of what the drought conditions looked like last year, especially at this specific time last year?
Brian Baldridge: The first part of August, we were really doing a lot of discussions and starting to hear a lot from our southeast and southern part of the state, hearing directly from farmers that they were already starting to feed hay, which would normally, you know, that's their winter crop. So, at this time last year, it was probably kind of the beginning of where we really started taking a deep dive into what was going on.
Frank: Can you explain how having such a historic drought can alter farming in the state?
Baldridge: So there's a lot more pasturelands in southern and southeast Ohio and those are the ones that were really impacted last year —as they were kind of doing that first cutting of hay, which is usually done June, and then all of a sudden the pastures dried up. The livestock did not have good pasture to eat.
And then all of the sudden they started feeding what they normally would start feeding in, let's say, November; October, November of a normal year, they started feeding their hay crop, you know, in August.
Frank: And then how long did it take for Ohio to leave that disaster-level drought designation?
Baldridge: We really didn't see that removed until kind of over the winter months as we started getting some rain falls.
But we needed multiple rainfalls to actually build that table water table back up. 'Cause not only was it the pastures that were impacted but it was those springs, those wells, those ponds, that farmers, producers were using to water their livestock as well.
Frank: But what were the long-term impacts then for these Ohio farmers that experienced this, you know, historic drought?
Baldridge: We did hear from producers that they did sell some of their livestock. Just because they did not have the feed there.
"We did hear from producers that they did sell some of their livestock. Just because they did not have the feed there."
There's a window of catch-up time there, as we've seen it decrease. And we know across the country, cattle numbers are down already from herd-side numbers. So this was an impact that was concerning to us when we heard farmers that were, you know, kind of, we use the term 'culling,' which means selling that cow, those cows and their herd. Maybe not all of them, but just, you know, cutting back because they were having challenges with water and also feed.
Frank: So how has this increased rainfall impacted our water table here in Ohio?
Baldridge: It seemed like just about the time that soil conditions were right to be in those fields with planters, we were getting another rainfall. And then, you know, if you do plant that crop and all of a sudden you get a big downpour? Well, now you have stand issues, which means basically some of those plants, some of those seeds did not germinate, did not come up, because there's excessive water in those areas. And usually it’s isolated areas in fields that you go back and replant. I heard from farmers saying they had to replant some replant because they got heavy rains right after each time they were planting.
But overall our water table seems to be in a good spot.
"If you do plant that crop and all of a sudden you get a big downpour? Well, now you have stand issues, which means... some of those seeds did not germinate because there's excessive water in those areas."
Frank: It's interesting how the extremes of drought last year to now extreme rain can have negative impacts on farmers here in Ohio.
Baldridge: I will say overall, you know, if you've got a good stand, meaning those plants came up and they were growing, the rainfall and the heat that we're having now is really good for growing conditions. But those challenges in getting that timely planting done, you know, hopefully we will see how the fall season kinda goes a little later. It will be very helpful to us because our crops will probably take just a little bit longer to mature, which will push us into a little bit later harvest.
Frank: If you wanted to kind of speak directly to our listeners, where else would you tell them that they can go to learn more about the drought or its impact on farmers?
Baldridge: The Ohio Department of Agriculture, our website — we try to do a good job of putting information out there. You can search U.S. Drought monitor maps and search Ohio and you can kind of track that and also see what our neighbors, neighboring states are doing.
And the other thing we always want to mention, just resources, and that's mental health. You know, I heard it through the voices and I saw it in the eyes of our farmers that dealt with really rough drought conditions last year. And I always tell folks kind of keep an eye on your neighbors. Sometimes the ag community, were pretty proud and we don't want to talk about if we're feeling a little down, but it's okay to talk about that.
"I always tell folks kind of keep an eye on your neighbors. Sometimes the ag community, were pretty proud and we don't want to talk about if we're feeling a little down, but it's okay to talk about that."
Frank: Well, thanks again, as the Director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture, Brian Baldridge, for giving us some more insight into drought conditions and their long-term impact on Ohio's farmers.
Baldridge: Thanks so much. Glad to talk with you.
