Dry conditions are creating significant variability in crop yields around Larimore, North Dakota. Dennis McCoy says small grain yields depended heavily on whether fields received timely rainfall. “The barley that came off that happened to get a little bit of an extra shower of rain, the yields were pretty good,” McCoy says. “Other ones were right at probably a hundred percent of crop insurance levels.” McCoy says test weights were hurt by the dry weather, with the crop falling well short of last year’s performance. “It wasn’t a disaster, but it was nothing like last year.” Corn is a bigger concern. Heavier soils and irrigated fields are holding up better, while dryland fields on hilltops are showing significant stress.
