Ohio drought creates ’emergency’ conditions for Ohio farmers

WASHINGTON, DC – Ohio’s worst drought since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s is devastating farmers across the state, who are reporting low crop yields and poor pasture conditions due to little rainfall.

“Farmers are used to uncertainty and bad weather, they deal with it all year long,” U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Cleveland Democrat, told reporters on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee during a news conference Wednesday. “But this is worse than a few wet weeks or a dry spell. This is an emergency.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency has declared disasters in 28 of the state’s 88 counties, and Brown said he expects that number to grow. Because one-seventh of Ohioans depend on food and agriculture, Brown described the drought as a challenge to the statewide economy. Ohio has 76,500 farms covering more than 13 million acres, according to the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

Brown said he expects many farmers in the state will need to use the Department of Agriculture’s disaster assistance programs and that his office is trying to inform farmers about available programs that can help them.

Ohio Farm Bureau Executive Vice President Adam Sharp said farmers are facing a “double whammy” of low commodity prices in addition to the drought. He said his family farm in Fairfield County typically harvests 65 to 70 bushels of beans per acre, but this year it’s harvesting only 18 because of the drought. Instead of three or four cuts of hay, his farm has harvested one and a half cuts this year, which he described as “terrible.”

“When the pastures aren’t good, it means people are rolling up hay and feeding it right away this summer, simply because their pastures aren’t there,” Sharp said in Brown’s press conference. “That means they don’t have hay for the winter. So the problem gets worse as winter approaches.”

Ohio Farm Bureau Senior Director of Communications and Media Relations Ty Higgins told reporters that parts of Ohio have seen 10 inches less rain than normal this year. He said some hard-hit farms are selling livestock because they can’t afford to water or feed them. He predicts that many pumpkin patches in the state won’t open this year because of the drought, and the apple crop will be short.

“This is putting a huge strain on farming families who want to preserve their farm’s legacy for future generations,” Higgins said. “The mental well-being of a farmer is incredibly important now as we navigate through these challenges of 2024.”

An anonymous survey of farmers conducted by the Ohio Agricultural Mental Health Alliance found that 44% of respondents said they needed mental or emotional care or counseling services in the past year. About half of those said they didn’t get the services they needed; a quarter said they got some services but needed more or different services. Extreme weather events, trade policies and commodity prices are all stressors that affect farmers, according to the Ohio Farmer Stress and Wellbeing Report.

Dr. John Patterson, state executive director of the Ohio Farm Service Agency at USDA, said his agency is working closely with the Ohio Department of Agriculture and Ohio State Extension to provide all necessary support services to Ohio producers “during this time of historic challenges.

“Interested producers should visit the USDA website to see our suite of programs tailored to their needs, then call their local FSA office to schedule an appointment,” Patterson said in a statement. “We stand ready to serve.”