The Drought

Who Paid For Last Summer's Drought? You Did

Daniel Charles — Wed, 01 May 2013 22:29:00 +0000

Say the words "crop insurance" and most people start to yawn. For years, few nonfarmers knew much about these government-subsidized insurance policies, and even fewer found any fault with them.

The 'Big Tree' beckons

Peggy Lowe — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 22:47:01 +0000

The first day of spring doesn’t feel that way as John Sam Williamson and Chris Starbuck meet up on a county road outside Columbia, Mo.

Temperatures are below freezing and a cold wind is whipping along the flat land here on the Missouri River bottoms. Williamson, a farmer whose family has owned this land for six generations, tugs at the bill of his John Deere cap and Starbuck, a retired University of Missouri plant scientist, pulls his Arborist Society stocking cap further down over his ears.

MU gets USDA grant to help farmers build resilience to drought

Abbie Fentress Swanson — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 15:22:58 +0000

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will announce that it will fund a University of Missouri project focused on building drought resiliency through soil health.

Congressmen aim to improve river management during droughts and floods

St. Louis Public Radio — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 21:57:48 +0000

Two freshman Congressmen from southern Illinois want the Army Corps of Engineers to start thinking of ways it can coordinate river management to keep cargo traffic flowing during droughts or floods.

Snowfall and rain reduce drought's impact

Associated Press — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 22:01:22 +0000

Climatologists say recent rain and snowstorms are slowly easing the grip of the worst U.S. drought in decades. But the wet weather also is creating some potential headaches.

Winter storm could provide some short-term drought relief in Missouri

Marshall Griffin — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 23:54:42 +0000

The winter storm that dumped several inches of snow and ice across much of Missouri may bring some short-term relief to the state’s drought conditions.

Kelly Smith is Director of Marketing and Commodities for the Missouri Farm Bureau. He says the winter storm arrived on the heels of recent rain events, helping saturate the soil.

“This snow is gonna slowly melt into the ground," Smith said. "We will get some runoff from it in some areas because they got a 10 to 13-inch snow…we had areas in our state as high as 13, maybe even 15, inches up in north of (the) Kansas City area.”

Missouri ethanol plant to be idled due to high corn prices

Abbie Fentress Swanson — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 13:56:54 +0000

Seventeen ethanol plants nationwide have been idled since last June because of a scarcity of affordable corn due to the drought and a weak market for the corn-based fuel. On Friday, a plant in Macon, Mo., took the hit — and brought the number to 18.

Winter wheat farmers face pressure; new ballooning record set in Antarctica

Rehman Tungekar — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 01:48:14 +0000

This week, we'll hear how some winter wheat farmers are faring in the new year, and talk to a researcher that helped set a new ballooning record in Antarctica.

Drought takes head start into 2013

Grant Gerlock — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 01:12:58 +0000

2012 was a drought year for the record books. It was the warmest year ever recorded in Des Moines, Iowa, Topeka, Kan., and Columbia, Mo. and the driest ever in Grand Island, Neb. The question is whether 2013 will be any different.

Corn, soybean production took hit in 2012

Abbie Fentress Swanson — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 22:21:33 +0000

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service released its end-of-year Crop Production 2012 Annual Summary Friday.

Not surprisingly, the report revealed that corn and soy production took a beating last year due to the drought that is still ravaging farms all over the Midwest.