September 30, 2008

A dry spell has hit Kentucky, putting the state's corn and soy yields at risk.

The National Weather Service said the drought is severe in portions of south central and southeastern Kentucky, while the rest of the state is mostly in moderate or mild drought.

The prolonged dry spell has cut corn and soy yields, and threatening to leave some cattle producers with insufficient hay for winter.

Across Kentucky, 31 percent of the soy crop was rated poor or very poor, 30 percent fair, 24 percent good and 15 percent excellent, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service's Kentucky field office. The corn crop fared better - 34 percent was rated good, 31 percent fair, 18 percent excellent, 14 percent poor and 3 percent very poor. 

The drought followed behind Hurricane Ike, which hit crops with high winds but brought no rains to Kentucky. In addition, fertiliser and fuel costs are higher than before.

Water in Kentucky has ran into a shortage and it is feared that continued dry weather could set more forests on fire, as the forest-fire hazard season begins October 1. Firefighters have so far contained a dozen wildland fires that razed nearly 250 acres this past weekend, said state forestry officials.

Rainfall since June is about 7 inches below normal at Bowling Green, and more than 5 inches in Louisville, Lexington and Jackson, the weather service said.