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Weather strains crops in Mobridge, surrounding area


Too much rain in the spring coupled with hailstorms and dry conditions this summer have meant a somewhat strenuous growing season for area farmers.
Eleanor J Goetz, Walworth County executive director for the Farm Service Agency in Selby, said this past spring many acres were labeled as “prevented planting,” which means that some crops were unable to be planted on time due to extreme wet conditions in the area.
Planting season did get underway, but recent hail has affected the small grain crops. The good news is that many of the crops were not reported as damaged and should have a good harvest depending on future weather.
Glen Anderson, a corn and bean farmer in the Mobridge area, said the hail caused some defoliage to some of his crops, which means there was an extensive loss of leaves to the crops.
“It all depends on the rest of the year,” Anderson said when asked if his crops will recover from the damage that the hail had left. Anderson said he’s sure his crops will recover and that the plants that did not receive any damage will be remarkably better.
But one issue that could affect crops within Walworth County and parts of Campbell County is the lack of moisture in the soil.
Bryce Anderson, senior ag meteorologist at DTN, said the next couple of weeks will have mild temperatures and hardly any precipitation. High temperatures will be in the mid to upper 80s with low temperatures being in the low 60s. Northern South Dakota is expected to be dry with only light showers on Friday, July 31.
“The prospect for continued drying and possible impact on crop yield is certainly a part of the scene,” said Anderson.
Doug Heil with State Farm in Mobridge said there have been no acres of crops in the surrounding areas of Mobridge reported as damaged so far this year. But there were many farmers this past spring who reported a third and some even half of their farmland had been prevented from planting due to heavy precipitation.
As of this past January, the reported number of crops in the Walworth County was 64,230 acres.
The deadline to report crop acreage in the county was July 15 but, due to the ongoing pandemic, the FSA has provided a waiver to any late fees for 30 days on farmers submitting their complete 2020 crop acreage report.
The report for this year’s crop acreage will be put on the farm service agency website in early August. For more information regarding crops in South Dakota, check out the fsa.usda.gov website.

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