With planting almost done, now drought takes center stage for farmers

 

Up until now, many farmers have relished the dry, sunny days that have filled Michiana skies for the first half of 2021.

Even with slight improvement across northern Indiana, the drought shows no major signs of slowing down. Most of southwestern Michigan still is in moderate drought, with severe drought showing up across northern Berrien County. 

USDA, UNL

The dry conditions have made conditions prime for planting across Michiana. In Indiana, corn is nearing 100 percent planted, while soybeans have crossed the 80 percent threshold. In Michigan, both corn and soybeans are more than 90 percent planted. The progress of both crops in Indiana and Michigan are ahead of last year's pace and well ahead of the 5 year average.

However, with few chances for rain in the coming days, farmers will have to fight drought conditions with plenty of irrigation. 

There’s going to be a lot of this over the coming days and weeks to fight drought conditions @TomCoomes @ABC57News pic.twitter.com/U9XpakJCll

— Dave Caulfield (@DaveCaulfield_) June 3, 2021

With 90 degree heat and relatively low humidity moving in, don't be surprised if we see a much bigger expansion of the drought when the next update is issued next Thursday.