As the much needed precipitation continues to be hard to come by, the drought conditions could have an impact on crops this season. 

Dallas County Extension Field Agronomist Meaghan Anderson says while the crops are moving along as people would expect for this time in the season, there are some signs of stress.

“We have certainly noticed an appearance of stress on those plants as we’ve had these really hot days and especially the lower humidities that have come along with that and the lack of rainfall. As people drive down the road they may notice that some of the corn is curled up, especially in the afternoon but some of it is curling up very early in the day.”

Anderson tells Raccoon Valley Radio she is also beginning to see some stress on soybeans as the leaves are flipping over and they look a little more wilted. Anderson says some of it can be attributed to heat stress but it can also be due to a lack of moisture and there could be impacts later on in the season. 

“We have been extremely short on rainfall. Normally May and June are our wettest months and we expect maybe on average about an inch or so a week across that time frame and of course anybody that has a rain gauge at home can do the math on how much rainfall they’ve actually received and it will fall far far short of that mark for the growing season so far.”

According to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor all of Dallas County is under a severe drought.