Recent Kentucky rains seen as “crop saving”
Oct 25, 2007—
A report in the Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal Thursday indicated that recent steady rain is providing a boon to winter crops and to curing tobacco.
Kentucky remains under drought conditions. But as the rain fills depleted reservoirs and raises the water table, the rain is being heralded as a crop saver by farmers.
"This is exactly the type of rainfall we need across the state to dig ourselves out of this … drought," said University of Kentucky agricultural meteorologist Tom Priddy.
Brian Furnish, general manager of the Lexington-based Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative, said that the rain has all but saved the wheat and other winter crops that workers on his Millersburg, Ky., farm, planted in drought-parched fields in September.
"If it had stayed dry, they would have died," he said.
Rainfall has been heavy in both Kentucky and Southern Indiana since Monday, according to the National Weather Service in Louisville. About six inches of rain had fallen at Louisville International Airport as of 4:30 p.m. yesterday, and forecasters were predicting as much as another inch by this morning. Rain chances are higher than 30 percent each day through Saturday.
The soaking has provided much-needed moisture to aid the tobacco curing process and the growth of crops like winter wheat, the state's fifth-biggest agricultural money maker.
Before Monday, many parts of Kentucky were more than a foot behind their normal rainfall levels, said John Denman, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Louisville.
Bowling Green, for example, was more than 17 inches below normal, he said, but it received more than 5.8 inches of rain since Monday.
But for some, the rain might actually complicate problems caused by the drought. Keenan Bishop, a Franklin County extension agent, said he's seen many pastures grazed "down to nothing." He's now worried the rain might result in erosion that could make it harder to replenish drought-stricken farmland.
While the recent downpour is a "welcome relief," he said he worries that it may be "too little, too late."
The weather service office in Louisville said yesterday that it had received no reports of flooding in the 69 counties it monitors.
That's because of the fact that the drought left stream, creek and river beds with so little water, Denman said.
And Todd Clark, who raises tobacco and hay and runs cattle on about 900 acres in Fayette, Scott and Bourbon counties, said he expects the recent rain will provide the humidity needed to properly cure the 85 acres of tobacco that he began harvesting in August.
"Even though that process is well along," he said, "this is much-needed rain and moisture to cure this tobacco."
Oct 25, 2007—
A report in the Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal Thursday indicated that recent steady rain is providing a boon to winter crops and to curing tobacco.
Kentucky remains under drought conditions. But as the rain fills depleted reservoirs and raises the water table, the rain is being heralded as a crop saver by farmers.
"This is exactly the type of rainfall we need across the state to dig ourselves out of this … drought," said University of Kentucky agricultural meteorologist Tom Priddy.
Brian Furnish, general manager of the Lexington-based Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative, said that the rain has all but saved the wheat and other winter crops that workers on his Millersburg, Ky., farm, planted in drought-parched fields in September.
"If it had stayed dry, they would have died," he said.
Rainfall has been heavy in both Kentucky and Southern Indiana since Monday, according to the National Weather Service in Louisville. About six inches of rain had fallen at Louisville International Airport as of 4:30 p.m. yesterday, and forecasters were predicting as much as another inch by this morning. Rain chances are higher than 30 percent each day through Saturday.
The soaking has provided much-needed moisture to aid the tobacco curing process and the growth of crops like winter wheat, the state's fifth-biggest agricultural money maker.
Before Monday, many parts of Kentucky were more than a foot behind their normal rainfall levels, said John Denman, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Louisville.
Bowling Green, for example, was more than 17 inches below normal, he said, but it received more than 5.8 inches of rain since Monday.
But for some, the rain might actually complicate problems caused by the drought. Keenan Bishop, a Franklin County extension agent, said he's seen many pastures grazed "down to nothing." He's now worried the rain might result in erosion that could make it harder to replenish drought-stricken farmland.
While the recent downpour is a "welcome relief," he said he worries that it may be "too little, too late."
The weather service office in Louisville said yesterday that it had received no reports of flooding in the 69 counties it monitors.
That's because of the fact that the drought left stream, creek and river beds with so little water, Denman said.
And Todd Clark, who raises tobacco and hay and runs cattle on about 900 acres in Fayette, Scott and Bourbon counties, said he expects the recent rain will provide the humidity needed to properly cure the 85 acres of tobacco that he began harvesting in August.
"Even though that process is well along," he said, "this is much-needed rain and moisture to cure this tobacco."
