‘Rain, rain, go away’: NE Wisconsin farmers asking for a break from Mother Nature

GRAND CHUTE, Wis. (WBAY) – Northeast Wisconsin farmers are asking for the rain to stop, as it’s hurting their chances of planting and harvesting their crops.

This comes after a drought was declared last year due to the dry conditions farmers were facing.

Last year, farmers were concerned that it was too dry for their crops hoping for more precipitation. This year the amount of rain we’ve gotten might be too much of a good thing.

Mark Petersen of Petersen Dairy Farm says he hasn’t been able to consistently get out onto his fields because of the weather. Many of the crops he has planted are under too much moisture, while crops waiting to get put into the ground may not make it in time. He says he’s heard multiple farmers complain about this year’s season as they remain at the mercy of round after round of rain.

“We’ve still got some dry hay to harvest yet and that’s a nightmare,” says Petersen. “We can’t do it because of the weather forecast. It should’ve been harvested optimum the last week of May so we’re getting a month late and it’s getting overly ripe and feed quality is not worth a darn at this point.”

Last year, farmers were dealing with the effects of a flash drought in late May that turned into a full drought in late June and lasted until about March of this year. Around April, heavy showers started to help farmers, but now it has become too much rain for them to plant and harvest their crops.

Regional crops and soil educator Kevin Jarek says that soil typically has 25% pore space and 25% moisture. When he was gathering soil samples in March, the percentage of moisture was between 16 and 23%, which Jarek says is unheard of for that time of year.

“For that number to be down at 16, 20, 23% during a time when the soil should have been the wettest, we were sincerely worried about ‘Are we going to have moisture to grow our crops if we plant them in the ground’,” says Jarek.

Jarek says farmers can plant cover crops, which will help benefit soil health and control erosion, but it may not be enough.

“It’s going to be too late to try and plant corn and soybeans and have those crops reach maturity, so we do the best we can,” says Jarek.

Jarek says farmers do have insurance and preventative planning payments that are available during times like this, but says it doesn’t come close to replacing what a farmer has lost.

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