Oklahoma’s Drought Hitting Farmers, Ranchers Hard

Oklahoma’s drought is hitting farmers and ranchers hard this summer.

NEO A&M Agriculturist Alisen Anderson says farmers are reporting significant decreases in growth, reproduction and yield for crops.

The record-breaking heat is impacting crops in Oklahoma and across the country with many ranchers struggling to break even.

Anderson says a lot of farmers and ranchers throughout the state have begun to feed their livestock their corn because the heat and drought have done so much damage to it.

“Because of the heat, it reproduced way too quick. So that pollination happened way earlier than it should have. So that corn is stunted. We have no corn kernels on the ears of that corn. If a producer were to go in and harvest it like they would be preparing to do right now they would not be getting any of those corn kernels, Alisen Anderson, NEO A&M Agriculture Instructor, said.

Anderson adds many farmers paid high prices for crops this spring and so the lack of production is devastating.

She hopes we experience more rain to change the production rates for crops as we head towards the Fall.

“As far as the whole crop is concerned, we are definitely preparing for the worst. Because we are in essentially all of Oklahoma…Every county is in a drought every county. We are either in a D1 to D3 so a moderate drought, a severe drought, or extreme. A lot of folks are trying to prepare for what may come this Fall,” Alisen Anderson, NEO A&M Agriculture Instructor, said.

Anderson anticipates prices of groceries will continue to rise because of the heat and the drought. She says that’s because crops were unable to correctly pollinate this season due to the high temperatures.

There are resources farmers and ranchers can use to help during the drought. Some of those include the Oklahoma Farm Bureau and County Extension Agents.