INDC_D_Concussions_SCS#2 Scribner‐Snyder High School 

Makayla Brainard, Kaleb Fischer, Rebecca Fischer, Ryan Schnoor, Autumn Schulenberg, and Lindsey Wisnieski 

The Trojan Times Special Report: The Drought of 2012

volume XII - issue 1 - september 26th, 2012

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This year the rainfall was lim-ited and the temperatures were soaring. It has left the farmers with a limited amount of good crops to feed their livestock with, but is using it for other food such as silage.

Since it has been so hot and dry farmers needed lots of water to irrigate their crops which in turn would use up lots of water

The drought of 2012 will have a major impact on the farmers of the United States. Experts all calling it “the most severe and extensive drought in at least 25 years.” About 80% of farmland in the United States has expe-

Was your summer this year not as enjoyable as you planned it to be? Maybe, let’s say, due to the lack of cold fronts and rain? Well some researchers say that you need to get used to it because the next summer might be the same.

The lack of rain across the Fertile Crescent has produced a drop in crop production. As the crop production has gone down, prices will go up on a variety of foods - such as beef and other farmer-grown products. But even though as you can see here

On Congress’ failure to vote on a new Farm BillAn Editorial Cartoon by Makayla Brainard

The drought has affected many area farmers this year. It is still unclear on how bad it will affect their pocket books and yours. With a shortage on corn this could increase food prices.

The Chicago Tribune says that there will be an increase of 3.5 percent in 2012 and 3-4 percent in 2013. The price in meat products will be affected the most. Particularly poultry will be affected right away. The higher corn prices get the high poultry will become. This will also affect the price on eggs.

Beef products will be affected as well. The USDA is saying normally beef prices may rise 3 percent annually but this year

The drought has caused some hard and stressful times for some people. The drought has also, destroyed some of the crops to where there is nothing left standing. But, if farmers have a form of irrigation they may still have part or in some

in our little town how it has affected us, we are not alone. Many states such as Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, and Okla-homa are in the boat as well.

We are one of the few states that has a built in water source in the the Ogalala Aquifer. Farmers these days are thank-ful for their center pivot and the aquifer that feeds the fields. But there are many farmers who do not have such resources and for them the wait is too much for their corn to handle. With the end of summer coming right around the corner temperatures are dropping and nights are get-ting even cooler. At this point people are saying they are ready for some cooler weather.

2012 Marked By Epic Drought2012 Marked By Epic Drought

Historical Perspective: The 2012 Drought Versus 1980’s, 1930’sthat wasn’t being replaced by rainfall. Now you may be won-dering how this year’s drought compares to other droughts in history.

The first drought was the Dust Bowl drought, which was a natural disaster that severely affected much of the United States during the 1930s.

The drought came in a few different waves, but some re-gions of the High Plains experi-enced drought conditions for as many as eight years.

The “dust bowl” was caused by combined years of land

management practices that left topsoil susceptible to the forces of the wind. The soil was without moisture and was lifted by the wind into great clouds of dust and they concealed the sun for many days. These clouds of dust were referred to as “black blizzards”.

Then during the 1950s, the Great Plains and the southwest-ern U.S. withstood a five year drought.

This drought started in south-western U.S. in 1950 and spread to Oklahoma, Kansas, and Ne-braska by 1953. Central Nebras-

ka experienced severe drought conditions but mostly subsided with spring rains in 1957.

This drought was charac-terized by both low rainfall amounts and excessively high temperatures.

Then there was the three-year drought of the late 1980s from 1987-1989. This drought only covered 36% of the U.S. unlike the Dust Bowl which covered 70% during its worst year.

While smaller, the 1987-1989 drought meant that the finan-cial costs of drought were now increasing since many parts

of the country were now more vulnerable to drought than ever before.

This increased vulnerability was due in part to farming on marginally arable lands and pumping of ground water to the point of depletion.

This year’s drought has been caused by little rainfall and scorching temperatures. Some-times even if the farmers did water their field it didn’t help because it was just so hot.

Since it has been really hot it has caused farmers to use more water than normal and has ul-

timately caused there to be less water in rivers and other water sources. This also caused other people to limit their usage of water and cut down on watering their lawns.

We will probably not have as many problems as they did during the Dust Bowl or other droughts in history, because we have learned better farming practices and water conserva-tion.

Information from- http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/drought/drght_history.html contributed to this report.

A Silver Lining To The Droughtareas a full crop that they can harvest.

Where the crops get watered there is some grain but nothing like the years before. The lower yields in the crops nationwide have and may continue to drive grain prices higher and higher. The price of corn is around $8 per bushel and the beans are worth around $17 a bushel. This is according to KTIC daily cash grain bids. Also, because the grain price is so high it may

help make up for some of the crops that have been lost.

The drought has also, affected surface and ground water levels. This is causing low water levels in streams and lakes which af-fect farmers. A portion of the irrigation used today comes from surface water. As these water levels decline, irriga-tion becomes a bigger strain on resources, leading to the state banning irrigation from many rivers and streams. The drought

has also lowered the ground water level to the point that the wells re running less efficiently.

Farmers of today use many different hybrids, farming prac-tices, and irrigation methods all in a hope to conserve water and not rely so heavily on rain fall. But, unfortunately they are still reliant on Mother Nature.

Drought’s Impact On The Farmer

to have a major drop from previous harvests. Due to the sharp drop in yields, the price of corn and soybeans is expected to rise very high.

This summer’s drought also had a major effect on livestock. Due to the hot temperatures, people with livestock had to constantly have shade or water on their livestock. Feed prices have risen up, making it more expensive to feed livestock.

they may rise 4.5 percent. With the increase of corn price milk will be going up as well.

The Chicago Tribune also reports that they think canned goods and other food products will have a minimal increase. They say that you will hardly notice these increases.

It is hard to say exactly how much food prices will increase. It depends on how high corn

prices go and how much gro-cery stores pass on to the con-sumer. So for people who are on tight budget this could become a problem.

Here are some tips to stay on your budget but also get what you need. 1) Prioritize your grocery list. Never sacrifice good nutrition to save money. 2) Make a grocery budget. Plan your trips to the store. Use cou-

pons and find deals on healthy food. Before you go to the store make a list. This will prevent you from making impulsive de-cisions while you are shopping. This will also make sure you get everything you need. 3) Set more money aside. As prices in-crease you may need to plan to spend a little more on groceries. So you may need to cut back on other areas.

Grocery Prices Set To Rise

This summer’s drought has had a major effect on everyone, includ-

ing many citi-zens of Scribner

and Snyder

rienced drought this past summer, making the 2012 drought the worst drought since the 1950’s. The drought has a direct effect on many of the people of Scribner and Snyder, because many have agricultural related occupations.

The drought has had a ma-jor effect on crops. The crops that were affected most were corn, soybeans, sorghum, and hay. The decent early plant-ing conditions made the 2012 summer look promising, but the hot temperatures and lack of rain made this summer a hard season to grow crops. The corn and soybean yields are expected

The heat has limited pas-ture growth, also making it harder to keep live-stock fed. The heat stress has also lim-ited milk production from cattle and egg production

from poultry. With the limited growth of crops and the high prices to make feed, feedlots will have just as much trouble as crops.

This summer’s drought has had a major effect on every-one, including many citizens of Scribner and Snyder. Every-one will always remember the drought of 2012.

Information from www.ers.usda.gov contributed to this report.

The 2012 drought has affected various crops, including these soybeans adjacent to the Scribner-Snyder track just north of the school. Dry land crops have suffered, causing yields to be depressed and prices to rise dramatically. The Trojan Times examines the wide-ranging effects of the drought in this special report. Photo by Autumn Schulenberg

Prices are set to rise thanks to the drought. Photo courtesy of Google Images