Delta farmers are being hit hard by persistent drought just as crops are requiring more water to survive, two ag officials said Monday.
"Some farmers have been irrigating for a couple of weeks.
The corn farmers started irrigating two or three weeks ago. Cotton and soybean farmers started last week," said Jerry Singleton, an agent with the Leflore County Extension Service.
Although some rain has come in the past few days, including Monday night, it has been sporadic, he said.
"A few people have gotten what we call a 'private shower.' Some areas got a trace to an inch of rain," Singleton said.
Jim Thomas, whose farming operation is centered near Cruger, said rain on his place this spring has been fleeting.
Just a quarter of an inch of rain fell near his farm's headquarters last Thursday. Outlying fields got little or no rain. The closest rain before that occurred almost two weeks ago, when two-tenths of an inch fell.
Singleton said the county's corn crop, at its current growth stage, requires about one-quarter inch of water each day.
In order to provide that, farmers have been running irrigation sooner than expected, which increases farmer input costs.
Thomas said in 2006 he irrigated his corn crop eight times. His cotton required half as much water.
"In all honesty, the crops are looking better than they should be," said Dr. Alan Blaine of Mississippi State University's Research and Extension office.
Elsewhere in the state, particularly to the east, crops are showing signs of heat stress, he said.
According to Blaine, for the past two years, the Memphis area has received 39 inches less rain than normal. "That's 75 percent of a year's rainfall, and we haven't made it to December," he said.
Irrigation may not be helpful to every farmer. Blaine said only about 25 to 28 percent of the state's farmland is irrigated.
Over the long term, Blaine said, the drought will have a "tremendous impact on corn yields and soybean yields" statewide.
