Recent high temperatures have caused drought issues for farmers

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCB)- Farmers everywhere are smiling at this week’s forecast but inflation continues to take its toll. The lack of rain has caused droughts in several areas in the state. One thing giving farmers frustration is the rising cost of fuel and fertilizer, according to Reid Nevins of the Lowndes County Extension Service Office.

The price of fuel has declined slightly but producers and consumers everywhere are hoping for more relief in their wallets.

Nevins discussed some of the issues at the Exchange Club in Columbus.

“The heat. So like our corn crop back in June, you need water and you need cooler temperatures for it to pollinate,” said Nevins. “It was 90 to 95 degrees for several weeks and the nighttime temperatures were well into the seventies and it never did get below 70. That hurt the pollination. Then the lack of rainfall. Even an irrigated crop has suffered from it. It never did get a chance to cool off at night and it just didn’t pollinate. A lot of pollination problems.”

For information on the Lowndes County Extension Service, go to http://extension.msstate.edu/msu-extension-lowndes-county.