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WELLSVILLE, Utah — “If it quit raining today, it would still be a couple of weeks before we could be back in the fields and start planting,” said Vern Gunnell, a Wellsville farmer. “We have standing water. The ground is just saturated.”
Gunnell considers himself a “hobby farmer,” who runs about 150 acres of Cache Valley land that belong to a family trust. Originally his grandfather’s property, the land has been in the family for nearly 100 years. “We raise barley on this ground,” he explained. “Typically, if we can plant by May 1, we can get it cut in July. The way things look right now, we won’t be cutting until September, when we risk an early frost.”
Like many farmers throughout Cache Valley, Gunnell is also concerned about the potential impact this spring’s wet weather may have on crop yield. “You’ve already invested in time, equipment and fuel, and you still have to pay to harvest and truck the grain,” he said. “On top of that, there are taxes. If the crop yield is not as good, you sometimes don’t have enough to pay the bills.”
Paying the bills hits home especially hard for Troy Parker, who has made farming his livelihood. Of the 800-1000 acres he runs, Parker leases 275 acres in Hyrum from Linda Christiansen. “Having been married to a farmer for 50-some years before he passed away two years ago,” said Christiansen, “I know that a good crop is such an important part of a farmer’s life, and I feel for Troy. I’d see my husband pick up the dirt and roll it into a ball to see when it’s ready to plant, and it has to be perfect. This year, it’s just wet.”
Currently, a portion of Christiansen’s land is completely submerged in water. Some of her fall grain is so wet that it will have to be tilled out before it matures. It will be too late by then to plant other crops, Christiansen fears. “It’s not very often that we have a spring like this,” she said. “1986 was a really bad year, but I don’t remember rains like this since then. It’s a blessing that they don’t happen a lot, because they can be devastating. It’s very sad because you put all the work into it, and you’re really at the mercy of Mother Nature. Last year was a good year. But this year, she’s not helping much.”
For Parker, the dollars associated with gains and losses in crop yields are significant. During a typical growing season, one acre yields, on average, 100 bushels of grain or one ton of hay. However, yield is dependent on how early crops can be planted. “As the old saying goes,” Parker said, “every day that planting is delayed past April 15 can cost you a bushel a day.”
This might not sound like much to a city dweller. But to Parker, whose farms with his uncle, Brent Parker, more than 2,000 acres, the price for late planting escalates quickly. With a bushel of wheat selling for $5-$6 and barley at $3 per bushel on average, the loss could be thousands of dollars a day. “If I could buy sunshine, I would," he said. “This [farming] is what I do, and you only get one check a year. If things fall short, you can’t make it up at the end of the month.”
Although he is prepared for lower yields, Brent Parker said he will have a better idea of what to expect at harvest once he sees “what the weather does in May.” If May brings with it damp weather and cooler temperatures, Parker is hopeful that his crops will do well despite the delay in planting. “If May acts like April should have been, the spring wheat will still be able produce multiple shoots with each plant, resulting in a higher yield.”
However, if May is warm and dry, the plants will simply grow bigger rather than “stooling,” and crop yields may be significantly diminished, he explained. “Some people ask me, ‘Why don’t you just plan more heavily to compensate?’ Well, planting heavier just means that there are more plants competing for the same amount of resources. This makes the crop shrink and produce even less. But our biggest issue right now is just being able to get any seeds in the ground.”
Clark Israelsen, Utah State University Extension’s agriculture agent, echoes these concerns. Surveying fields from Cache Valley’s northern to southernmost borders, Israelsen has spent the past several weeks trudging through mud and wading through standing water. “Our farmers up here have diversified over time, so we’re looking at cattle and we’re looking at crops — barley, wheat, alfalfa and silage corn. The cattle have sheds and corrals to cope with the weather, so it’s the crops we’re most worried about. We just can’t get ‘em planted.”
Israelsen emphasizes that the weather’s impact on planting extends beyond each farmer and each saturated field. With food price inflation concerns already on the rise, Israelsen noted that lower crop yields affect food supply and demand and can send prices skyrocketing. “A higher cost for wheat means there’s less flour to put in the bin to make the bread. This is not just a farmer’s problem. That affects all of us.”
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Paying the bills hits home especially hard for Troy Parker, who has made farming his livelihood. Of the 800-1000 acres he runs, Parker leases 275 acres in Hyrum from Linda Christiansen. “Having been married to a farmer for 50-some years before he passed away two years ago,” said Christiansen, “I know that a good crop is such an important part of a farmer’s life, and I feel for Troy. I’d see my husband pick up the dirt and roll it into a ball to see when it’s ready to plant, and it has to be perfect. This year, it’s just wet.”
Currently, a portion of Christiansen’s land is completely submerged in water. Some of her fall grain is so wet that it will have to be tilled out before it matures. It will be too late by then to plant other crops, Christiansen fears. “It’s not very often that we have a spring like this,” she said. “1986 was a really bad year, but I don’t remember rains like this since then. It’s a blessing that they don’t happen a lot, because they can be devastating. It’s very sad because you put all the work into it, and you’re really at the mercy of Mother Nature. Last year was a good year. But this year, she’s not helping much.”
For Parker, the dollars associated with gains and losses in crop yields are significant. During a typical growing season, one acre yields, on average, 100 bushels of grain or one ton of hay. However, yield is dependent on how early crops can be planted. “As the old saying goes,” Parker said, “every day that planting is delayed past April 15 can cost you a bushel a day.”
If the crop yield is not as good, you sometimes don't have enough to pay the bills.
–Vern Gunnell, Wellsville farmer
This might not sound like much to a city dweller. But to Parker, whose farms with his uncle, Brent Parker, more than 2,000 acres, the price for late planting escalates quickly. With a bushel of wheat selling for $5-$6 and barley at $3 per bushel on average, the loss could be thousands of dollars a day. “If I could buy sunshine, I would," he said. “This [farming] is what I do, and you only get one check a year. If things fall short, you can’t make it up at the end of the month.”
Although he is prepared for lower yields, Brent Parker said he will have a better idea of what to expect at harvest once he sees “what the weather does in May.” If May brings with it damp weather and cooler temperatures, Parker is hopeful that his crops will do well despite the delay in planting. “If May acts like April should have been, the spring wheat will still be able produce multiple shoots with each plant, resulting in a higher yield.”
However, if May is warm and dry, the plants will simply grow bigger rather than “stooling,” and crop yields may be significantly diminished, he explained. “Some people ask me, ‘Why don’t you just plan more heavily to compensate?’ Well, planting heavier just means that there are more plants competing for the same amount of resources. This makes the crop shrink and produce even less. But our biggest issue right now is just being able to get any seeds in the ground.”
Clark Israelsen, Utah State University Extension’s agriculture agent, echoes these concerns. Surveying fields from Cache Valley’s northern to southernmost borders, Israelsen has spent the past several weeks trudging through mud and wading through standing water. “Our farmers up here have diversified over time, so we’re looking at cattle and we’re looking at crops — barley, wheat, alfalfa and silage corn. The cattle have sheds and corrals to cope with the weather, so it’s the crops we’re most worried about. We just can’t get ‘em planted.”
Israelsen emphasizes that the weather’s impact on planting extends beyond each farmer and each saturated field. With food price inflation concerns already on the rise, Israelsen noted that lower crop yields affect food supply and demand and can send prices skyrocketing. “A higher cost for wheat means there’s less flour to put in the bin to make the bread. This is not just a farmer’s problem. That affects all of us.”
