Dried-up winter wheat in the fields of eastern Colorado tells a devastating story – a crop loss as high as $100 million this year, according to the Colorado Wheat Administrative Committee.
An early freeze last fall followed by drought this spring decimated the crop, which lies dormant during winter months, said farmer Gene Perry, owner of Perry Bros. Seed in Otis.
When it’s harvested in July, the Colorado winter wheat crop is expected to be less than half the yearly average, said Don Ament, state Department of Agriculture commissioner.
The average Colorado wheat crop is about 100 million bushels. This year, the crop could come in as low as 50 million bushels.
“I just wish it would rain in this state and not hail, either,” Ament said.
Gov. Bill Owens is working to line up federal low-cost loans for farmers to make up for lost revenue, said spokesman Dan Hopkins.
Nationally, Congress is considering a $4 billion crop-disaster assistance program for 2005. Severe drought conditions are also expected to destroy parts of winter wheat crops in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska.
Farmers often buy crop insurance, which is set up to pay them a percentage of what they lose to disasters such as drought, hail, fire and flood.
Perry believes Colorado is nine years into a drought cycle that could last 23 years, based on university research on tree rings and his family records.
“We hear this, and it scares us,” Perry said.
Colorado farmers in 2002 lost more than $100 million in crop revenue, said Darrell Hanavan, head of the Colorado Wheat Administrative Committee. Last year, they lost an estimated $66 million.
This year, the loss is already higher than $66 million, and it’s growing, Hanavan said.
Colorado’s snow-capped mountain peaks and irrigated lawns and fields in other parts of the state don’t necessarily mean things are OK in the east, where farmers don’t often irrigate, Ament said.
Even typical afternoon thunderstorms in eastern Colorado have been changing because of drought conditions, said Burl Scherler, a farmer in Sheridan Lake, northwest of Lamar.
“We’ve had erratic precipitation. It’s pretty serious – the rain showers are pretty hit-and-miss,” Scherler said. “We’d like to get back to normal.”
Staff writer Beth Potter can be reached at 303-820-1503 or bpotter@denverpost.com.
