GERALD, Mo. — Missouri and Illinois have been under drought conditions all summer, but after last week's heavy rains are farmers expecting to see a change in status?
"We just have not had the normal soaking rains to keep the top wet enough to actually soak in," Gasconade and Franklin County Farmer, Terry Schwoeppe tells 5 On Your Side. "That's the kicker, so our drought monitor may drop somewhat."
But not a significant change in drought status. Schwoeppe says 8-12 inches down, the ground is still dry, "The problem with these heavy rains is it doesn't give it enough time to actually soak in."
Summer 2023 was already off to a rough start when August hit with a fury.
In late June, or early July, Schwoeppe's soybean fields burned up. Now he and fellow Gerald farmer, Mike Kleekamp have washed out fields.
"The runoff from the water was so excessive that it broke the drainage levee and it basically took out that whole field," Kleekamp tells 5 On Your Side. "It is just cutting across a field and that's going to have to be repaired."
Between the dry start to summer and the drenching August, Kleekamp says his yields are down, "Some of my fields didn't make half of what they normally do. I'm always trying to get 130 to 150 bales to the acre and some fields were down in that 40, 45 range."
Schwoeppe says across the board, his crops have suffered, "We may have some decent yields but for the most part I would say a lot of yields are going to be at least cut 30%, if not 50% or more."