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Drought: a waiting game with Mother Nature

The low Mississippi River levels are on USDA’s radar. As lighter-than-usual grain barges move down the Mississippi River, farmers are finding other ways to market or store grain on the farm. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says the question is whether the low water levels and backups will have a significant impact on commodity prices.

“I think we have a situation where, hopefully, Mother Nature cooperates and we get rain. Once we get that rain, hopefully, we’ll get more traffic.”

Vilsack says there is a USDA grain storage loan program available to help expand on-farm storage. Ultimately, this drought is a waiting game with Mother Nature.

“You can be the best farmer in the world, you can do everything right and then, Mother Nature decides not to rain for awhile and production is reduced or you can’t get your grain to the market as quick as you’d like.”