At harvest, Red River Valley farmers hoping for rain but say they've seen worse

HAVANA, N.D. — Like many farmers in the Red River Valley, Joe Breker said his crops will likely produce below average yields. As the Havana farmer walked through his soybean fields in late August, roughly 100 miles southwest of Fargo, he said his crops looked better than expected. ADVERTISEMENT “I’ve seen worse,” Breker said. “You know farmers. Always the optimist.” Lack of rain and prolonged heat throughout crucial parts of the growing season left farmers with early maturing crops. Almost all of North Dakota is experiencing some type of drought, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center’s map. Most of Traill County and northeast Cass County, as well as a stretch along the Montana border in southwest North Dakota, have extreme drought, the second highest level, according to a map released Thursday. Corn is drying out, and some farmers will have to decide whether to harvest what they have or chop it for silage, said Ana Carcedo, an extension agronomist for North Dakota State University. “It really depends on the operation,” she said. As of Thursday, Aug. 28, Fargo has received less than 5 inches of rain since May 1, making this growing season the city’s seventh driest on record, according to the WDAY StormTracker Team. The driest year was 1936 with 3 inches, WDAY meteorologists said. This year fell behind 1967, which had 4 ½ inches since May. The yearly average for Fargo is about 12 3/4 inches, WDAY meteorologists said. ADVERTISEMENT Drought conditions were worse in 2021. Most of North Dakota was in extreme drought as of Aug. 24, 2021, with some parts in the highest level: exceptional drought, according to the Drought Mitigation Center. Soil moisture was near or above normal for the Red River Valley in March of this year due to snowpack melting into the ground’s top layer, according to the National Weather Service in Grand Forks. That may have helped crops, Breker said. The severity of dryness differs from field to field in Breker’s area. He expected his crops to be about 50% to 60% below average. “At this point, I would say it is nearly impossible to have an average crop, even if we got rain,” Breker said. “It’s going to be hard.” 'Watch your crop fade away' Ben Bring said his farm near Galesburg has had three-tenths of an inch of rain since June 24. Galesburg is about 50 miles northwest of Fargo. Corn fields near the North Dakota Corn Growers Association vice president’s farm are spotty, Bring said. Parts of his fields will be average, while other parts will produce little or no yield, he said. “The whole month of July, you go through 90-degree temperatures and 15 to 20 mph wind and everything, and you just kind of watch your crop fade away day by day,” Bring said. ADVERTISEMENT The combine will tell the true story, he said. He doesn’t have cattle, but he knows some farmers who are chopping corn. “We're not in that situation right here,” he said. “Talking with our insurance agents, they're telling us, ‘Let's just hold off and wait until we get the combines in the field,’ and we’ll file insurance claims if needed.” Traill County Taxation Equalization Director Kayla Knudson said her family has moved some of their cattle from pastures back to their ranch in the southwest part of the county. Pastures are drier in southern Traill, she said. “The pastures closer to the house, they suffered the worst,” she said. “Those cows are already home for the year.” She said she hopes her family doesn’t have to sell cattle, but they are going week by week. “Our goal is to not, but if we have to, we have to,” she said. North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong declared a drought disaster on Aug. 18. He released $4 million in livestock water supply assistance funds, with applications available at shorturl.at/qnTBO. ADVERTISEMENT Depends on the crop Wheat was in "terrible" condition in western North Dakota, but there are good and bad spots in the Red River Valley, Carcedo said. Farmers in western North Dakota were excited for wheat in the spring since conditions were good, but the heat turned those hopes, she said. Soybeans needed more rain in the last week of August, she said. She said she expects just below average for soybeans. “It really depends on which crop you’re talking about, but in general, you’re going to see below average crops,” she said. Breker said his soybeans weren’t filling out like normal. Pods usually have three to four beans, but some of his pods had two or one. The tops of his soybean plants appeared dried out without maturing, and some pods fell off. Other farmers in his area told him they are seeing the same in their fields. Breker’s corn was drying from the bottom up, but it still had husks with cobs in it. ADVERTISEMENT “The trouble is those kernels are about half as deep as they should be,” he said. “They’re very shallow.” Sugarbeets are beating the heat, but rain would be advantageous, said Harrison Weber, executive director for the Red River Valley Sugarbeet Growers Association. Sugarbeets grow deeper into the soil than other crops like corn and wheat, he said. Sugarbeets have more than a month left in the growing season. Crop weight is average, but sugar levels in the beets are very strong, Weber said. “Rain would be welcomed up and down the valley,” he said.