WAPAKONETA, OH (WLIO) - It is not a shock that it has been very dry lately. According to the Drought Monitor issued on September 26th, all of west-central Ohio is in at least moderate drought, with severe drought to the north and southeast of Lima. Extreme and exceptional drought has ravaged much of central and southeastern Ohio. On Friday, I traveled to the Auglaize County Ohio State University Extension Office in Wapakoneta, where I was told that topsoil conditions are not great.
Extreme and exceptional drought has ravaged much of central and southeastern Ohio.
“What we can see is those top sections that are breaking and starting to show those really low soil moistures along the top couple inches, breaking and developing just those strategic cracks that you start to see when you are looking at bare soil and dry conditions,” says Jacob Winters, Agriculture & Natural Resource Extension Educator, Auglaize County OSU Extension.
This very dry soil has negatively impacted crop yields in Auglaize County, especially corn.
“Yields in our areas are coming up moderate to low on corn, and they’re coming up sort of moderate, nothing really outstanding, in soybeans as far as what the yields are, with several producers reporting back yields around 70 bushels per acre on soybeans and others coming in under 200 but above 150 on corn,” Winters adds.
This chart details each stage of corn development. The 2024 Drought impacted corn development between R1 and R6.
Winters also stated that corn was especially hard hit because the drought occurred from the R1, or "silk appearance stage," all the way to the R6, or "kernel maturity stage," while soybeans were a bit more resilient. So, what is it going to take to end the drought?
“Throughout the summer, just through evaporation, not talking about what the plants were taking up as far as moisture, we tend to lose about an inch of rain in the soil every single week... So, as we’re going through counting up those weeks and then looking into fall, where we typically have lower, about half-inch reduction, in that total amount of moisture in the ground, we wind up with a deficit of around somewhere between a foot and 9 inches,” Winters explains.
“Throughout the summer, just through evaporation, not talking about what the plants were taking up as far as moisture, we tend to lose about an inch of rain in the soil every single week"
That means, despite some recent rainfall, it is only a fraction of what we need. As farmers harvest their crops, Winters is seeking information from the public on how the drought has affected their operations.
This very dry soil has negatively impacted crop yields in Auglaize County, especially corn.
“I’m asking for voluntary issues to report what their yields are across the county. They’re stationed at all of our local grain elevators around the area; there are little half-paper surveys that take a few minutes just to sit and fill out, and that will definitely help us get a good comparison on what your experience were with the drought and how much it impacted local operations in the area,” informs Winters.
You can find the surveys at the following grain elevator locations:
- United Equity Inc Neptune Ohio 197, Celina
- Maria Stein Grain Ohio 119, Maria Stein
- Heartland Feed Services West 4th Street, Minster
- Sunrise Cooperative, Inc. Botkins West Walnut Street, Botkins
- Sunrise Cooperative, Inc. Uniopolis East Ohio Street, Uniopolis
