Local farmers hope incoming snow will combat winter drought

 

RACINE COUNTY, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The year's first major snowstorm's got area farmers feeling happy. The winter drought's been cause for concern.

While crops like corn, soybeans and alfalfa hay have become more weather resistant over the years, a drought still can play a role in how well they do in the growing season.

"I’m not super worried yet, but it's something to keep an eye on, for sure," said Stewart Frost of Frost Farms in Waterford.

Generations of farmers in his family, dating back to 1835, taught Stewart Frost to watch the weather, but not worry, because it can change.

"Like even last year, we were pretty dry in the winter and then it rained all spring," said Frost.

The most recent U.S. Drought Monitor puts most of Racine County at a moderate drought range and says overall, January was the second driest on record in over 130 years.

"The winter of '21 I think I plowed snow one time, and now this winter I haven't plowed snow yet," said Frost.

The latest models predict up to six inches of snow Wednesday.

"We're something like 20 inches or 24 inches behind on snow," said Frost.

"The snowstorm coming in is a good point of optimism," said Jim Waldron, president, Racine County Farm Bureau.

Waldron says snow is especially good for a drought.

"So it gives time to, you get that really good subsoil moisture. It saturates in and everybody feels better about the ground conditions that are gonna come in," said Waldron.

Frost plants corn in April. That's when they'll dig under the dirt and hope to find moisture two inches down. There's alfalfa hay in these fields. Frost feeds it to his cows, some 700 who produce about 70,0000 pounds of milk a day for Grassland butter and Prairie Farms milk.

"To some extent, the not having a snow cover and the very, very cold can be a problem for the alfalfa," said Frost.

The week's expected to end bitterly cold, adding to farmers' concerns.

"If we were to get a bunch of ice, like if this snow, we warm up a little bit and it turns into the sleety, icy type of stuff and we just get a really icy top, that's always really hard on alfalfa crops and on wheat crops," said Waldron.

The drought monitor can also play a part on commodities prices. It's just another thing farmers say they'll be watching.

At Frost Farms, they'll be hoping for a solid corn crop by summer in time for the Racine County Breakfast on the Farm which is taking place this time right at Frost Farms in Waterford.