Rain is a blessing of immense proportions for farmers, provided it arrives in moderate amounts and over a period of time.
The latest spat of springtime rain put area farmers in a hole, but it is one that they can escape within a week or less of warm, sunny weather.
A small portion of this year’s corn was put in before the skies opened, and when fields dry planters that can cover many acres in a day’s time will be a common sight throughout the county.
More rain is forecast for tonight and into Wednesday morning. If there is an advantage, fields already are soaked about as much as they can be and whatever falls will run off to streams and the Neosho, to exit on to the south.
Among fears for corn already planted is that plants, hardly tall enough to be seen, will be affected by too much moisture. Retarded growth is a possibility, but the hybrid varieties of today can withstand adversity that would have had farmers throwing up their hands in resignation not that many years ago.
A silver lining can be found in most dark clouds, and with rainfall being as generous as it has been, pastures and meadows will grow like, well, proverbial weeds when skies clear and temperatures warm. Ponds for livestock are filled to the brim and unless torturous drought occurs they will carry well into summer, with replenishment anticipated along the way.
Planting time for soybeans, the cash crop that has the most impact on the bottom line, is conveniently far enough away that today’s soggy soil is not a worry.
We have been lucky that the most severe weather — snow in western Kansas and tornadoes and large hail — the last few days missed Allen and adjoining counties.
FOR THOSE who think human-induced climate change, because of what is loosed into the atmosphere, is a fairy tale, we suggest they think otherwise.
The recent winter was as mild as many folks remember and none has sent temperatures to or below zero for days on end for some years now. The rash of tick reports in part is the results of winters too mild.
The severity of spring storms has been greater than average by several degrees, an outcome that may be placed on even a fraction of a degree warming of oceans.
The Trump administration, with the full support of Scott Pruitt, EPA director, last week updated the EPA website “to reflect … priorities” under the new administration, Jim Timmer, who holds a doctorate in molecular and cell biology from the University of California at Berkeley, wrote for Ars Technica. The “priorities” are not favorable to multiple branches of science that give credence to man-made climate change.
The EPA, at the behest of Pruitt, said changes to policy were made to “prevent confusion,” referring to former President Obama’s campaign for clean power production and other means of reversing warming of the planet.
Timmer wrote: “… in its haste to make sure the EPA website reflected current policy, the Trump administration has eliminated access to lots of accessible information about basic science.”
Current weather in eastern Kansas isn’t an anomaly for springtime, but the rash of violent weather, spawned by factors that involve ocean currents and temperatures and resulting effects on upper level air currents, strongly suggests climate change.
Meanwhile, our good friends on the farm while concerned about today, also think often about what lies ahead for their children and grandchildren, and whether the weather will become even more capricious.
Their success means much to all of us when we sit down at the dinner table, an outcome that can’t be politicized away with oxymoronic rants about bad science and fake news.
— Bob Johnson
