JEFFERSON CITY, MO. — Even with many parts of Missouri receiving rainfall over the past week, the state’s agriculture department is concerned about possible fungus growing on crops, impacting livestock.
The Drought Assessment Committee, made up of state and federal agencies, met Tuesday to discuss the ongoing drought. The committee was activated after Gov. Mike Parson declared a “drought alert,” signing an executive order, back in May.
The good news from the meeting is that the National Weather Service is expecting above normal precipitation starting in August through October, but with much of the state experiencing a drought and with the hot weather on tap for this week, it could be too late for farmers and even some of Missouri’s forest, fish and wildlife.
“I know we have had eight fish kills across the state which is a result of low water and lack of oxygen in the water,” Jake Buxton with the Missouri Department of Conversation told the committee.
Buxton says a “fish kill” is when dozens of fish have died on a body of water due to abnormal circumstances, like a drought.
After the driest April and May since 1988, farmers have had to make tough decisions because of the lack of feed.
“Unfortunately, many of our livestock producers have already passed the point of no return and have had to sell off portions of their herd, which can be seen through the record-breaking sales reported from the cattle barns over this past month,” Director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources Dru Buntin said.
Buntin said earlier this month, a livestock barn in Callaway County had its biggest sale in history with over 5,000 head of cattle sold for more than 27 hours straight.
After recent rainfall, the U.S. Drought Monitor showing improvements for the first time in weeks, but still 95% of the state is in a drought with about a quarter of Missouri in an extreme drought.
“It’s a little but too early to tell, but this is the perfect recipe for Aflatoxin in corn crop,” Deputy Director for the Department of Agriculture Chris Klenklen said. A lot of our feed businesses will need to be monitoring very tightly because that can be very deadly to some of our livestock and dairy industries.”
Aflatoxin is a toxin like fungus that can grow on corn, Klenklen said. This drought can also cause infection into the state’s woodland.
“There’s going to be long-term impacts on Missouri’s forest,” Buxton said. “The drought conditions just exacerbate the disease and things that spread in the forest.”
The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers is warning that navigation on the Mississippi River could also be affected by low water levels in the coming weeks.
“We started out the year tracking pretty close to average, approximately mid-May is when we started to deviate from average and basically took a nosedive and went into low water conditions,” Davor Karic with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers St. Louis District said. “We might be breaking some historic lows.”
Director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture, Chris Chinn, said last week that sending cattle to market early could result in you paying more for beef down the road, while farmers try to rebuild their herds, which can take years.
Last month, the governor announced emergency plans for Missouri farmers to access water and hay as drought concerns persist statewide. The state is allowing farmers to collect water and harvest hay from state parks.
Farmers can now access emergency water or hay through the following ways:
Boat ramps at 25 Missouri state parks will be open for farmers to collect water with almost 700 acres available for haying at 17 state parks.
Boat ramps at 36 Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) areas are also now open for water collection.
The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) is offering special over-width hauling permits at no charge to help farmers and ranchers move hay.
Buntin said 12 of the 17 sites available for haying on state park land has been spoken for, which is about 487 acres.
“I know we have a lot of folks looking for hay,” Klenklen said. “One of the challenges we have is that everybody has a different need for hay, so coming up with the perfect hay for everybody is really an individual farm need.”
If drought conditions don’t improve Chinn said farmers will start harvesting crops next month instead of waiting until the end of September, early October.
The Department of Agriculture does offer a mental health resource for the farming community. The AgriStress hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Producers can call or text 833-897-2474 to speak to a healthcare professional.
DNR is asking Missouri residents to submit information about the local drought conditions online. Buntin said this can help the committee create more accurate maps, allowing members to work better with state and federal partners.
DNR also has a variety of resources online and continues to add information on drought mitigation and assistance opportunities.
The committee said it still is monitoring drinking water levels, but currently there are no emergency measures in place. The group plans to meet again in August.