Autumn is not End of Drought
Tennessee farmers look to next year to recover from MidSouth drought
An interview with Joe Pearson of the Tennessee Farm Bureau reveals how farmers in the region were affected by the drought and how they can recover.
Agriculture is an industry that provides tangible evidence of the principle of cause and effect. All 95 counties in Tennessee were granted federal farm assistance in the summer of 2007 due to the drought that affected the South. As autumn arrived, the Tennessee Farm Bureau focused on next year’s harvest.
Joe Pearson, director of commodity activities at the bureau, spoke with contributing writer Lacey Lyons about the lasting effects of the drought.
“This puts a lot of pressure on next year’s crops,” said Pearson. “Tennessee is a major player in the green bean business, and I did have a fellow tell me that he normally plants 3,000 acres of green beans. This year, for 1,000 of those acres, he had no pickers in the fields.”
Another farmer learned early to look for signs of harm in nature.
“I was talking to a farmer whose young son just went into business with him, and the young son was very enthusiastic and all excited,” Pearson said. “He said, ‘Don’t worry, Dad. I’m not going to worry until the trees start to dry.’ Well, now the trees are drying.”
These anecdotes are backed up by government data. In September, the U.S. Drought Monitor classified the problem as D4 in much of the state and parts of the surrounding region. D4 means “exceptional,” and is the highest level of severity given on the monitor.
Yet when asked if there are ways to alleviate the effects of the drought, Pearson responded, “That’s the $64,000 question. You have to match your needs with what’s available, and that’s all there is to it.”
The Tennessee Farm Bureau has been meeting with farmers to work out solutions. Some farmers use alternative feed sources such as corn or other grains. Others have struck bargains with farmers in states with sufficient rain, like Texas and Oklahoma. Some farmers there are willing to house and feed animals as long as the drought lasts.
“We can’t create the rain. You sell off the livestock you can’t prepare for winter. Folks realize they can’t hold their livestock or they have no plan to feed them,” Pearson said.
Pearson urges farmers to avoid the temptation to buy poor-quality hay.
“You do have weeds and tree leaves that are toxic to cattle at certain stages of life,” he said. “People need to be very careful. They need to pay attention to feed quality, and I know that’s hard to do when there’s no feed. Don’t buy poor quality hay, because it can be more expensive in the long run if you do.”
The harm the drought caused crops and livestock will be felt until next summer. Cattle have not bred as well as they normally do and are hemorrhaging from the heat.
“This kind of drought is not something that will resolve itself in two or three months,” Pearson said. “We’re going into fall, which is normally our drier season. But we’re going in without feed stored. The soil moisture just wasn’t there. All that affects the livestock industry over the winter.”
But consumers will notice “very little,” Pearson said. “This drought is widespread enough to make the news, where people understand it’s a problem when they normally would not. But it’s not severe enough to make any difference at the market level.”
Farmers are developing technology that will aid them in their struggle against Mother Nature. Varieties of drought-tolerant soybeans are planned to be planted next year. The Tennessee Farm Bureau has discussed pasture management, rotation grazing and the merits of storing hay in covered areas.
“Experience causes people to adapt to technology,” Pearson said. “Experience may drive research toward drought technology. Look at what we have now in automatic watering systems. That’s technology. No more watering our livestock out of streams. We will live; we’ll learn to get through it somehow.”
