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Dean Whitehill has served as Finney County's agricultural Extension agent for 27 years, but he's never seen a drought as bad as this one.
Whitehill said Monday that Finney County usually gets about 18 1/2 inches of precipitation each year, but the area received 30 percent to 40 percent less rain in the past year.
"You might say we're kind of on the north and east edge of a very severe drought, but it is widespread across our county as well," he said. "We just have not had the rainfall."
He said the drought is harming the winter wheat crop and could damage other crops, including grain sorghum, if it doesn't end soon.
Finney County isn't alone.
Many areas in southwest Kansas have received less than two-thirds of their normal rainfall in the past year. The drought has damaged crops and soils and will likely affect the state's budget.
In late April, Gov. Sam Brownback asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to declare 21 counties, including Finney and Meade counties, as agricultural disaster zones. If the request is granted, farmers in those counties would be eligible for low-cost emergency loans to cover their operating costs.
Farmers could also qualify for permanent disaster payments if they meet certain requirements.
Brownback also toured several drought-stricken areas, including Finney and Meade counties, last week so he could see the damage first-hand and talk to local farmers.
The governor's spokeswoman, Sherriene Jones-Sontag, said the tour was an eye-opener for Brownback.
"For him, it really helped him put it in perspective," she said. "And it was much worse than he anticipated it to be."
Jones-Sontag said Brownback has not heard back from the USDA yet, but he was expecting a response within another week.
Seeking help
Also last week, U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran urged USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to grant Brownback's request immediately.
"In additional to the emergency loans, access to other aid within the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments Program may become available," Moran wrote in a May 6 letter. "Such financial assistance is necessary to ensure the continuity of agricultural operations in these counties."
Moran also asked Vilsack to act quickly on emergency haying and grazing requests for Conservation Reserve Program land, so producers can avoid having to sell their livestock due to forage shortages.
In the meantime, area farmers are starting to worry about the drought's potential impact on their crops and their pocketbooks, said Chris Long, agricultural agent for the Walnut Creek Extension District.
"A lot of the guys that have acres out there, they're talking to their crop insurance people, trying to figure out what to do next," he said. "If they think that the farmer should go ahead and harvest it, or if they should go ahead and get rid of it and try to look at doing something else."
But Long said a severe drought would limit farmers' options for planting other crops.
The Walnut Creek Extension District covers Ness, Rush and Lane counties.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Dean Whitehill has served as Finney County's agricultural Extension agent for 27 years, but he's never seen a drought as bad as this one.
Whitehill said Monday that Finney County usually gets about 18 1/2 inches of precipitation each year, but the area received 30 percent to 40 percent less rain in the past year.
"You might say we're kind of on the north and east edge of a very severe drought, but it is widespread across our county as well," he said. "We just have not had the rainfall."
He said the drought is harming the winter wheat crop and could damage other crops, including grain sorghum, if it doesn't end soon.
Finney County isn't alone.
Many areas in southwest Kansas have received less than two-thirds of their normal rainfall in the past year. The drought has damaged crops and soils and will likely affect the state's budget.
In late April, Gov. Sam Brownback asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to declare 21 counties, including Finney and Meade counties, as agricultural disaster zones. If the request is granted, farmers in those counties would be eligible for low-cost emergency loans to cover their operating costs.
Farmers could also qualify for permanent disaster payments if they meet certain requirements.
Brownback also toured several drought-stricken areas, including Finney and Meade counties, last week so he could see the damage first-hand and talk to local farmers.
The governor's spokeswoman, Sherriene Jones-Sontag, said the tour was an eye-opener for Brownback.
"For him, it really helped him put it in perspective," she said. "And it was much worse than he anticipated it to be."
Jones-Sontag said Brownback has not heard back from the USDA yet, but he was expecting a response within another week.
Seeking help
Also last week, U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran urged USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to grant Brownback's request immediately.
"In additional to the emergency loans, access to other aid within the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments Program may become available," Moran wrote in a May 6 letter. "Such financial assistance is necessary to ensure the continuity of agricultural operations in these counties."
Moran also asked Vilsack to act quickly on emergency haying and grazing requests for Conservation Reserve Program land, so producers can avoid having to sell their livestock due to forage shortages.
In the meantime, area farmers are starting to worry about the drought's potential impact on their crops and their pocketbooks, said Chris Long, agricultural agent for the Walnut Creek Extension District.
"A lot of the guys that have acres out there, they're talking to their crop insurance people, trying to figure out what to do next," he said. "If they think that the farmer should go ahead and harvest it, or if they should go ahead and get rid of it and try to look at doing something else."
But Long said a severe drought would limit farmers' options for planting other crops.
The Walnut Creek Extension District covers Ness, Rush and Lane counties.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Associated Press contributed to this report.
