Hailstorms and Drought Continue to Plague Wheat Farmers

LUBBOCK, TX – Fierce thunderstorms pounded the area with hail over the weekend while neighbors just a hundred miles away continue to burn in a historic drought.

While this is a storyline in West Texas, almost on a regular basis, it’s actually from half a world away: France and Italy.

For farmers in France, the fourth-largest exporter of wheat in the world, the news is just fueling concerns of a potential shortage of grain globally, in part due to drought conditions in the U.S. Southern High Plains, and a war in Ukraine.

In the meantime, Italian farmers are eyeing a possible multi-billion dollar (USD) disaster as rainfall in 2022 has been less than half of the average moisture received this year.

Back home, custom harvesters on the Texas South Plains report yields of less than 10 bushels per acre in most wheat fields – though test weights have been surprisingly good in some cases.

In Central Texas, where the combines would have already wrapped up the harvest, many of the fields have been plowed up as crop insurers choose to “zero out” the crop rather than forcing farmers to endure pitiful yields in the midst of record-high diesel prices.
(SOURCE: All Ag News)