For more than a week, much of Ohio has been hit with multiple rounds of rain and storms.
Severe weather, tornadoes and flooding slammed parts of central Ohio. Just in the Columbus area, there have been 11 consecutive days of rain, totaling more than 5.9 inches, according to the National Weather Service.
Brian Baldridge, director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture, said the weather across the state has caused significant damage to crop fields. He said wind damage snapping plant stalks and flooded fields have been huge concerns.
“As we look at weather conditions and you think about in your own yards and you see some trees and damage know that those wind and storm events can have impacts to our growing crops that are out there in our fields,” Baldridge said. “And when those impacts occur, it can affect our yields, and then obviously that affects our bottom line as far as a business model in the farming community.”
Heightened rainfall increases the likelihood of fungal infections, Baldridge said, which leaves farmers deciding if applying fungicide will get crops past the growing season. He said the crop yield this year has been “fairly good,” but the spring season staggered planting, causing many levels of crop maturity across the state.
But the weather and crop ages may push the harvest later into the fall.
“If we're harvesting with our combines in soil conditions that are kind of more saturated, wetter conditions, it can cause additional compaction as we harvest and also do damage to the fields as far as running up, which will cause us more problems in the future next year as we go into a growing season,” Baldridge said.
Jordan Hoewischer, Ohio Farm Bureau's director of water quality and research, said the crops that are now underwater only have a few days before they diminish. The constant rain has only made it more difficult to recover.
Hoewischer said farmers are typically excited about “finishing type” August rains, but the abnormal amount has left some farmers uncertain about what they are up against.
“Obviously, you can't do much about 70 or 80 mile an hour winds and things like that. But I think that the biggest takeaway is, you know, our farmers are in business with Mother Nature and it's becoming more and more unpredictable as the years go on,” Hoewischer said.
