Early August rainfall could be a blessing for crops that were planted later than usual, area farmers and agronomists said this week.
The first week of August in southwest North Dakota — typically hot and dry — was defined by heavy rains, daily showers, early-morning fog and below-normal temperatures.
It’s not exactly the type of weather farmers like to see — at least in a normal year. But this has not been a normal growing year.
Continue reading “August rains could be good for late crops”
MOTT — As much as 25 percent of cropland in parts of southwest North Dakota remains unseeded due to wet conditions that have lingered since late May.
Duaine Marxen, the North Dakota State University extension agent for Hettinger County, said Wednesday the cropland that is seeded is doing well, but unplanted ground will be difficult for farmers to even access without a significant drying-out period.
“In order to get that last 25 percent done, we’re going to need a week, a week and a half, and it’s gotta be warm and dry in order to get it in,” Marxen said.
On Wednesday, I made a quick trip to Southwest Grain’s Boyle Terminal between Taylor and Gladstone to take a photo of Delane Thom, the cooperative’s manager. He had been interviewed for a national story by Reuters titled “Grain trains scarce on the Plains,” that we ran Thursday on our front page.
I spent 15 minutes chatting with Thom about the issues facing elevators throughout North Dakota, particularly those out west in the Oil Patch areas. I came away with an even better understanding of what people like those in Thom’s position are facing as they head into another busy season, trying to appease producers tired of hearing that an elevator with millions of bushels of space has no room and then begging BNSF Railway to send a few more trains their way to help free up space, only to watch a train hauling 110 cars full of oil roll east past the facility.
So much attention is being paid to those train cars carrying Bakken oil and its volatility that most forget about the issues facing local grain cooperatives throughout the region.
SCRANTON — Mike Wedwick chuckles when asked about what this small town would be like without the Scranton Equity Exchange.
“It’d be just like Bucyrus. How about Gascoyne?” said Mike Wedwick, the Equity’s grain manager, evoking a similar chuckle from general manager Roger Goodfellow.
Wedwick’s assumption of Scranton turning into a ghost town may not be far off — at least not in the eyes of the Equity’s employees.
“It’s basically the community,” said Kim Hodell, the Equity’s truck shop manager and an employee of 32 years.
Last fall, after two years of listening to input from the public, special-interest groups and government agencies, the North Dakota Industrial Commission got serious about creating a list of “extraordinary places.”
Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem in December designated a list of 18 special places in western North Dakota and crafted a proposed set of rules aimed at limiting the impact of energy exploration in those areas.
Great, right? Republicans working in harmony with the environmental groups to soften oil’s impact on the state? “Is this heaven?” we asked. “No, it’s North Dakota,” they responded.
Too bad it’s a little more complicated than that.
Dustin Monke 