Nebraska's farmers adapt as drought continues
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BY KIMBERLY HANSEN / For the Lincoln Journal Star
John Delp has farmed in central Nebraska for 35 years. This is the first time he's had to deal with serious drought. "Over the years there've been periods of drought," said Delp. "But we've never been in this situation before."
Delp, who grows corn, soybeans and wheat on nearly 2,000 acres in Gosper County, is adjusting his farming practices this year because of the drought.
"Most of my farms have deep wells on them," he said. "I'll probably use them a bit heavier this year."
Another option Delp hopes to use is something called prevented planting, a benefit of the federal Crop Insurance Program that was designed to cover crop losses when it was too wet for the farmer to plant.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently began to allow farmers to collect the insurance -a percentage of the guaranteed yield on the insured field -if a lack of water prevents them from planting irrigated ground.
Some of Delp's cropland is irrigated with water from the Platte River, which is diverted into the Tri-County Canal system and managed by the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District.
Central provides irrigation water to 113,000 acres of farmland in Dawson, Gosper, Phelps, Kearney and Lincoln counties. The water is stored in Lake McConaughy and released into the Platte River.
Tim Anderson, Central's public relations manager, said McConaughy is at 35 percent of normal operating capacity. It is the fifth year in a row the amount of water coming into Lake McConaughy is less than half the normal flow.
In September, Central announced its customers would be limited to about one-third of their usual allotment of irrigation water. In addition, Central will begin the irrigation season later this year, filling its canals in mid-May rather than April.
"The whole goal here is to keep the water in Lake McConaughy," Anderson said. The lake is an important recreation area, and its water supports a major fishery.
Many south-central Nebraska farmers rely on Platte River water to irrigate their crops. The drought - now going into its sixth year - has forced them to adapt to water shortages.
Jim Fahrenbruch farms around 1,000 acres of corn and soybeans north of Loomis. This year he's planting more dryland and enrolling some of his land in prevented planting. Even though he's being more aggressive this year, conserving water is nothing new for him.
In the past few years, he has tried to conserve soil moisture by cutting back on plowing, discing and cultivating. Because of the drought, these types of farming practices are more important to farmers like Fahrenbruch than ever before.
"It'll be interesting this summer if we don't get any rain," he said.
Gary Cederburg, who grows corn and soybeans near Minden, said he'll cut back on plant population - the density or number of seeds he plants per acre - this year.
"That way there's a better chance of the existing plants being healthy," Cederburg said.
Rick Bergman farms nearly 3,000 irrigated acres with his brother along a 15-mile stretch between Holdrege and Elm Creek in Phelps and Buffalo counties. He said 25 percent to 30 percent of his corn and soybean cropland is irrigated with surface water from the Tri-County Canal. Despite the cutbacks in water, he remains optimistic.
"Drought is cyclical in nature," Bergman said. "We'll be out of the drought in a few years and back into wet weather. But water issues have become more critical. We're just becoming more efficient with our water use."
In the past two years, Bergman has converted many of his irrigated fields from gravity irrigation to a more efficient center-pivot system. While this has been costly, Bergman is banking on the long-term payoff.
To help offset the expense of eight new center pivots, he and his brother participate in the USDA's Environmental Quality Incentives Program, which helps farmers and ranchers convert to more environmentally friendly practices. The program will pay farmers up to 30 percent of the $40,000 to $50,000 cost of a center-pivot system. Since 2002, Nebraska farmers have used it to buy 853 center pivots on 110,890 acres of ground.
Bergman has also drilled new wells to compensate for the decrease in surface water from Central. He got his six permits OK'd just before the start of a recent moratorium on new well drilling in many parts of the state. In the past six months, he has drilled four new wells.
Not all Nebraska farmers have been affected as severely by the drought. In much of the eastern third of the state, annual rainfall is slightly higher and farmers rely mostly on groundwater irrigation.
Ed Keyes uses groundwater to irrigate almost all of his 1,000 acres of corn and soybeans northeast of Central City. He said the last two years have been some of the best he has had in farming.
"We actually do better in dry weather," he said.
In fact, he said, he's having a tough time planting his crops because he keeps getting rained out.
Still, Keyes occasionally has dry spells when he needs to irrigate. He recently drilled a new well with a permit he received just before the moratorium took effect.
Even though he doesn't use surface-water irrigation, Keyes does see a correlation between groundwater and surface water.
"I have a stream that runs through part of my property," he said. "When I start pumping, I do notice that the stream goes dry."
Kimberly Hansen has a doctorate in physiology and is a student in the science-writing class at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications. Reach her at kkhansen@unlnotes.unl.edu.
About this series
Platte River Odyssey is a collaboration between the Journal Star and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications.
In the coming months, look for stories that examine Platte River-related issues, including:
* An in-depth update on LB962, Nebraska's new water law.
* The groundwater mound -treasure or trouble?
* Big Mac's drying up.
* Economics and history of irrigation in the Platte Valley.
* Litigation over water in the Platte basin.
* The Platte Metroplex - Lincoln and Omaha's dependence on the Platte.
* Recreation on the river.
On the Web
* To read past stories in the series, go to:
www.journalstar.com/special_section/platte_river
* National Weather Service Climate Prediction Centerwww.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov National Weather Service Climate Prediction Centerwww.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov
* National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincolndrought.unl.edu National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincolndrought.unl.edu
* Drought Information and Resources for Nebraskans - UNLInstitute of Agriculture and Natural Resourcesianrhome.unl.edu/drought Drought Information and Resources for Nebraskans - UNLInstitute of Agriculture and Natural Resourcesianrhome.unl.edu/droughtBreakout Text
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