Cruel year for agriculture
John Schlageck
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Two thousand seven has been a cruel year for farmers, ranchers and those associated with this vital Kansas industry. The latest blow was the monster tornado that swept through five counties in south-central Kansas .
Yes, Mother Nature has been a destructive mistress this year. As a result, rural Kansans have battled the weather since the beginning of 2007. Five months before this wind destruction, a blizzard brought northwestern Kansas to its knees. In some places, three feet of snow roared into the flat High Plains landscape, killed cattle, broke power lines like matchsticks and left entire communities without power for weeks.
Next came the chilling Easter week freeze. This blasted a beautiful, ahead-of-schedule wheat crop in central and eastern Kansas with 14 and 16-degree temperatures for three to four nights. The results of this Easter surprise may not be known, until harvest although current estimates say crops with the promise of 60 bushels and above will probably yield approximately 12 to 25 bushels in many areas.
Now in mid May, hundreds of farmers and ranchers across Kansas would be ordinarily cultivating fall crops, baling hay and preparing for the upcoming winter wheat harvest, but instead they are picking up the pieces after weather struck the weekend of May 4.
The hardest hit area was Kiowa County, where an F5 tornado wiped out the community of Greensburg, claiming at least 10 lives. Farmers and ranchers throughout southwest-central, central and northeastern Kansas are dealing with the aftermath of tornadoes, high winds, excessive rainfall and flooding. This includes the loss and severe damage to homes and outbuildings, livestock loss, crops damaged or in some cases completely obliterated, as well as damaged or destroyed farm equipment, fencing and irrigation systems.
Natural disasters of this kind bring out the best in rural people. When Crawford County farmer Jim Michael heard about the storm and the damage it caused, he rounded up six of his friends and headed to Stafford County.
“We knew there would be farmers in the outskirts of where the tornado hit that would need help,” Michael said.
Stafford County Farm Bureau president Marilyn Spare had a regular meeting of the Stafford County Farm Bureau Monday morning after the storm. Once the group got together, they realized one of their board members sustained damage on their farm and quickly revised their agenda to help with the clean up.
“This is people helping people,” Spare said. “We’re fortunate in the farming community that neighbors look after neighbors.”
Multiple County Farm Bureaus banded together May 11 to help with clean up in the Macksville area. Cowley County Farm Bureau arranged for local FFA students to assist in clean up, Gray County Farm Bureau donated a large grill for cooking hamburgers donated by Riley County Farm Bureau. Stafford County Farm Bureau organized and planned the delivery of meals to workers at several other disaster sites around the area. Cowley County also used chain saws, dismantled three pivot irrigation systems and walked fields cleaning up debris.
Kansas Farm Bureau has established a farmer/rancher weather recovery fund designed to assist farmers and ranchers who have suffered loss or sustained damage due to the severe weather in Kansas. County Farm Bureau organizations, FB members and others interested in assisting are urged to send donations to: Kansas Farm Bureau Weather Recovery Fund, ATTN: Accounting Dept., 2627 KFB Plaza, Manhattan, KS 66503. Or log onto www.kfb.org/kfbweatherfund.