Farmers across the Great Plains are confronting an intense drought that threatens winter wheat harvests and is pushing cattle producers toward costly feed purchases, prompting some to abandon plans to expand their herds.
The dryness is expected to persist through spring after weeks of scant rainfall and a late-winter heat spell that fueled massive pasture fires across the nation’s breadbasket. Drought now covers nearly 90% of Nebraska and Oklahoma, with more than half of Nebraska in “extreme” drought. Such conditions have historically driven cattle producers to sell off animals and forced farmers to drill new irrigation wells as rivers run dry.
The coming weeks are critical for growers in the Plains, as winter wheat begins to mature ahead of the summer harvest and before other crops are planted. Without sufficient moisture from rainfall or irrigation, wheat shoots struggle to fill out and produce grain. Some farmers will allow cattle to graze fields instead
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