10 September 2012, officially Idaho’s drought began in the Gregorian/Western/Christian calender year of 2000. It’s still on 12 years later!
According to the latest drought data, the Eastern Highlands of Idaho are in “severe drought”, while the Upper Snake River plain is suffering “extreme drought”. The rest of Idaho is in moderately dry to moderately wet.
Across the United States, the worst drought in at least 50 years is helping to keep commodity speculators bidding high for the food we eat.
Click on pics to make bigger.
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- Will eastern Idaho turn into the next Dust Bowl?
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- Some burn areas, like from the Charlotte Fire in Pocatello, have been turned into dust farms.
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- Abandonded farm house from the late 1800s, in Cairbou County, Idaho.
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- These cows are feeding in what was the bottom of the north end of Weston Creek Reservior, in Oneida County, Idaho.
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- Dry conditions in Cairbou County, Idaho.
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- Farmers with access to irrigation are doin’ fine. Franklin County, Idaho.
Recently a joint report by National Public Radio (NPR) and Idaho media sources, explained how the drought in Idaho is becoming a Tale of Two Cities.
In Idaho you have what’s called dry farming and irrigated farming. Dry farmers don’t have access to year round irrigation, they have to rely on rain.
Despite the 12 year drought, there’s still enough water in rivers and aquifers for the irrigated farms. Keep fingers crossed for more snow this winter!
The dry farmers are losing crops and money, the irrigated farms are growin’ big crops and makin’ big money.
Because of the panicking commodity speculators, crop prices are way up, and even though dry farms are losing out, overall crop production is up in Idaho: “We dumped 325 trucks yesterday which is roughly 175,000 bushels. That’s a lot of wheat.”-John Peake, superintendent General Mills grain elevators in American Falls, Idaho
Peake said the lack of crops from dry farms will have no impact on Idaho crop production, but it sucks to be a dry farmer: “I mean, being a dry land farmer in southeast Idaho is a tough deal. It was a windy year, it was hot early. It was just a tough year to be a dry land farmer.”
So the moral of this tale is that while overall crop production might be down for the whole of the U.S., having plenty of farms with enough water to weather a drought means that the Idaho agricultural industry, overall, will benefit from the higher commodity prices. No food shortage in Idaho, so far.