This summer’s record-breaking drought has taught farmers around the nation a number of lessons. However, questions remain as to whether any of the lessons can be effectively used in the future.

“As I see it now, there are, perhaps, some things which we (farmers) might have done if we had only known to what extent the drought would be, but we do not have a crystal ball,” David Whitson, agriculture adviser for the DeKalb County Extension of the Cooperative Extension Service, said.

Losses from this year’s drought-stricken harvest total more than $300 million. Corn and soybean harvests, which make up 85 to 90 percent of all crops in the county, suffered the most, losing up to 50 percent of normal yield. This translates to about a $50,000 loss per farmer.

“Farmers are changing their long-range management plans in order to try to compensate for a repeat of drought conditions in the future,” Whitson said. “The dry weather has changed so many systems that the farmers feel they can’t be taught anymore.”

Dealing with a drought is something farmers have learned to live with over the years, but preparing for a drought is almost next to impossible due to the fact that long-range weather forecasts are so susceptible to change.

“All we can do is speculate as to how much rain we will receive,” Whitson said. “However, the weather services are not predicting any more rain than we usually get.

“If we get four to five inches of rain a month over the next couple of months, we may get back to normal soil moisture. If the ground freezes over before we get a lot of rain, we may be forced to rely on hopes of getting one to two inches in the months of June and July each,” Whitson added. “Our soil holds moisture very well, so our deep root plants will be all right.”

In times of trouble, farmers can rotate their crops and use different methods of tillage. Whitson hopes that using some of these alternative methods will help prevent another bad year.

“We can plant crops that use a short root system, which will not deplete our lower-level water tables. We used a deep root system this year,” Whitson added. “We can also try a rough tillage or a no tillage approach which may help retain melt waters next spring.”