The U.S. Drought Monitor states Missouri's situation has gotten worse. Exceptional and extreme droughts exist in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. Now the dry pattern has enveloped half of the Show-Me State.
Just over 49 percent of Missouri is at least abnormally dry. Just over six percent of the state is now in a moderate drought, which means crop losses and livestock begin. An eight-county area over southwest Missouri, including where I live, now has brown and crispy grass.
Some farmers have begun to plow over their cornfields that have been ruined by a lack of precipitation and hot temperatures. Topsoil moisture is low in many areas, including the west-central part of Missouri with south-central and southwest portions of the state not much better.
Compounding the problem is an infestation of Japanese beetles throughout Missouri and Illinois. Normally an urban garden problem east of the Mississippi River, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported the shiny brown and green beetles are now starting to consume cash crops in the Midwest.
"There's quite a concern about the number and just how prevalent they've been. I'm seeing a lot of people coming into our offices with jars, literally full of these little critters," Julia Pryor of the Illinois University Extension told the Post-Dispatch .
The insects came to America around 1916 in New Jersey on a shipment of irises. Now, the pests have spread to the west in pockets but now are naturally moving in large numbers into Missouri's cash crop fields. Japanese beetles normally eat fragrant plants such as roses or grapes, but they do eat corn silk which prevents the plant from propagating.
The beetles haven't even peaked yet when the adults are most prevalent. After they lay their eggs in the ground, next year even more insects will come out and pester farmers. The added pesticide spraying increases costs to farmers, even as the Midwest continues to be hot and dry.
A lack of moisture hurts corn crops and reduces yields. Neighboring Kansas is even worse as over 10 percent of the state is in "exceptional" drought stage, meaning the dryness is a once-per-century event. Business Week reported over a third of the corn crop in Kansas is in poor shape and in danger of being completely wiped out. Just over a quarter of the corn crop is good with only five percent listed as being in excellent condition.
Sorghum and soybeans in Kansas are also in bad shape. If the drought continues, things will only get worse. Farmers will lose money and the already stagnant U.S. economy will suffer from higher vegetable prices in grocery stores. The drought may not get better. August and September can be typically dry months heading into fall. If there is little rain in the autumn, winter precipitation is normally the worst in this part of the United States with very little snow.
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