Farmers Warn That The Megadrought In The Western U.S. Threatens To Cause Devastating Crop Failures

[Music] [Music] throughout us history there have always been droughts in the western half of the country from time to time but what we are dealing with now is truly alarming scientists tell us that a multi-year mega drought is developed in the southwestern portion of the country and this is the worst year of that mega drought so far by a wide margin if conditions do not radically improve soon we're gonna have a major agricultural disaster on our hands some farmers have already decided not to plant crops at all this year but many others have decided to plant anyway knowing that if enough rain doesn't come their crops will certainly fail the epicenter of this mega drought is the four corners region in the southwest but this drought is so immense that it's causing immense nightmares for farmers as far away as north dakota in fact the first few months of this year were the driest that north dakota has seen in 126 years a recent report revealed that farmers are starting to make difficult decisions on planting and culling herds as the governor of the state declared a statewide drought disaster on april the 8th soil moistures across the state particularly in western portions of north dakota are lacking sufficient moisture to sustain normal crop development growth the first eight days of april 2021 offered little help as hot summer-like temperatures gusty winds and low humidity across the state accelerated drying conditions according to the u.s drought monitor well over half the state is now experiencing severe drought perhaps you don't care about what's happening in the upper midwest the northern plains states and the prairie provinces of canada but you should because much of the food we eat comes from that region this region spanning states such as north dakota and provinces such as manitoba is the most important one for spring wheat the higher gluten variety that's used for pasta or mixed with other wheat for all-purpose flour and that crop is at significant risk because conditions in the region are pretty dire this year reported modernfarmer.com adding that with precipitation levels so low the soil was already dry when some of the hardest april temperatures in decades came to town that further removed moisture from the soil leading to dry dusty conditions the next few weeks are a critical time for this region in a normal year farmers would plant wheat and canola crops and cattle would begin grazing on the grass that pops up in the pastures now farmers and ranches are exceedingly nervous that those activities will be exceedingly challenging multiple times economic analysts like michael snyder have discussed the dramatic rise in food prices that we've been witnessing lately and now drought fears are pushing futures prices for spring wheat a lot higher although the modern pharma report says that it is possible that rainstorms in the next few weeks will hit the region there's no guarantee that they'll water the neediest areas and experts are doubtful that they'll make up for the dry winter and hot spring even in the rosiest of outcomes at the moment the us drought monitor shows around 70 percent of north dakota in extreme drought conditions with most of the rest in the slightly less scary severe drought rating and most important agricultural states are likely to suffer from extremely dry conditions as well california the country's largest agricultural state by revenue also had an unexpectedly dry winter and is experiencing a drought that will likely only get worse as temperatures rise as a result the futures prices of both spring wheats and canola are at their highest in years were traders expecting a lower harvest this year despite all of our advanced technology farmers can't grow crops if it doesn't rain and a farmer in texas named blake fennel says that his farm has not had any significant rain in almost two years blake fennell says we've still got to give that crop every chance we think we can get but at the same time we also can't waste a lot of money on a crop that we don't think we're gonna have going into it we're extremely dry says blake a farmer in earth texas i would say we're given the year 2011 a run for its money but we're probably drier than 2011 at this point according to agweb 2011 is a year that sticks in many farmers mines in the west texas and texas panhandle area that's when consecutive days of 100 degree temperatures and no rainfall meant pivots couldn't even make it a full circle without crops shriveling up and the dry land crop was nil fennel says if we don't get any significant rainfall within the next two three or four weeks it's gonna have a very significant impact on the cotton crop in west texas a one inch or 1.5 inch rainfall event is not gonna cure the problems we're facing today fennel says the expectations for the west texas cotton crop are also grim saying abandonment looks like it's gonna be pretty high this year just for the simple fact that there is no ground moisture to get this crop emerged what a nightmare right now nearly the entire state of texas is in some level of drought and we haven't even gotten to the summer months yet to call this a plague would be a major understatement on the border of oregon and california farmers have just learned that water levels are so low they'll only get a tiny fraction of the water they need in 2021 as federal regulators attempt to balance the needs of agriculture against federally threatened and endangered fish species that are central to the heritage of several tribes oregon's governor said the prolonged drought in the region has the full attention of our offices she's working with congressional delegates the white house and federal agencies to find relief for those affected the simple fact is that it hasn't rained or snowed this year we all know how dry our fields are and the rest of the water watersheds are in the same boat there is no easy way to say this ben duvall president of the klamath water uses association told several dozen irrigators who gathered in klamath falls on wednesday morning to hear the news we all know what this is gonna mean to our farms our families and our community as a whole for some of us it may mean we're not in business anymore next year do you think that you could run a successful farm under such conditions jay wider an attorney for the klamath tribe said that the tribe was pursuing legal action over water releases that will impact fish and accuse the federal government of precipitating the crisis by mismanaging water in the basin for decades what we're seeing with climate change increasingly year after year after year is that there's not enough water to go around this crisis should not come as a surprise to anyone he said we have over drafted our account essentially and now we have to deal with the consequences elsewhere in california water allocation reductions of up to 95 percent are forcing many farmers to make some heartbreaking decisions when it comes to their crops as many are facing severe water restrictions there's districts throughout california that have experienced up to 95 percent reductions in water says fresno county farm bureau ceo ryan jacobson he says the lack of wet weather means the water that farmers do have will have to be reallocated to permanent crops while others like garlic tomatoes onions melons and rice will be reduced us food production will be down in 2021 but if sufficient rain starts falling in the western u.s we could still see a miracle but if enough rain does not fall we are gonna see epic crop failures meanwhile it's being projected that the drought will cause the water level in lake mead a key reservoir on the colorado river to soon fall to the lowest level ever recorded according to new u.s government projections potentially triggering significant water cutbacks in some states as early as next year the projections released by the us bureau of reclamation show that lake mead the largest reservoir in the country and a vital water supply to millions across the southwest could fall later this year to dangerously low levels last seen in the 1930s cnn informed that lake mead sits at just 39 percent full today and lake powell the river's second largest reservoir is just 36 full according to an april water supply report the reservoirs along the river system were created to serve as a buffer the store water and ensure a reliable supply even in times of drought but experts say that due to climate change and a 20-year drought there's now more water being taken out of the river system than flowing into it leading levels in these key reservoirs to fall john fleck the director of the university of new mexico's water resources program says this shows us that the kind of dire scenarios that we've been preparing for and hoping would not happen are here now the colorado river provides water to 40 million people living in seven western states and mexico and irrigates more than five million acres of farmland as it snakes its way from the rocky mountains towards the gulf of california highlights the report we'll have to lay off employees we won't be buying as many seeds or fertilizer or tractors and so we'll just have to scale down and operate a smaller farm and so yeah it'll hurt a lot said arizona farmer dan thalander disclosed if you live anywhere in the western half of the country you should brace yourself now for severe water restrictions and all of us need to brace ourselves for much higher prices at the grocery store for decades the western half of the country was blessed with unusually high levels of rainfall but that wasn't going to last forever now just bold conditions have returned and farmers ranchers and local authorities are starting to panic as this mega drought continues to intensify life is gonna dramatically change in the western half of our nation and that is gonna deeply affect all of us [Music]

Channel: Epic Economist

Views: 66,960

Rating: 4.8860927 out of 5

Keywords: drought, megadrought, west megadrought, megadrought 2021, megadrought california, megadrought texas, crop failures, natural disaster, crop failure climate change, crop failures central america, food price surge, food price inflation, water shortage, water crisis, food production farming, crop failure global warming, us drought 2021, western us drought, us water crisis 2021, us water shortage, food shortage, food prices rising, farming, western drought, drought conditions;

Id: 0y4_7WXAB9Y

Length: 13min 40sec (820 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 21 2021