Drought Threatens Minnesota Economy

By Lee Egerstrom, Economic Development Fellow, February 2, 2012 at 1:30 pm

A great agricultural journalist, Don Muhm, used to tell new reporters at the Des Moines Register that they should never write about drought until they moved their families to high ground. Weather conditions in the Midwest can change just that quickly.

Wrapped inside Muhm’s journalism lesson, however, was a reminder for caution. We should keep that in mind for the impact a radical shift in weather might have on Minnesota’s economy, and for the certain damage that will come if current drought conditions persist across all of Minnesota’s 87 counties.

As we roll into February, meteorologists will provide historical data on how January was one of the warmest such months on record, and that it was also one of the driest. Both conditions keep alive the drought that began in mid-summer last year.

Click on the “U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook” map for the period of Jan. 19 to April 30, which is usually about the end of farmers’ planting season for most major crops.

It shows persistent drought likely over the bottom half of Minnesota, northwest Iowa and adjacent counties in of South Dakota and Nebraska in the heart of prime farming county. It also makes the same forecast for much of the Red River Valley area of North Dakota and northwest Minnesota, and reaches from there across most of the major forestry areas of northern Minnesota.

A good narrative of January weather conditions will be forthcoming from the Minnesota Climatology Working Group in a matter days through the University of Minnesota. Pay heed.

Our forest resources are already subject to poor growing conditions as well as fires as spring approaches. Soil moisture conditions are already threatening 2012 farm crops. This wll have consequences for the Minnesota economy.

Posted in Economic Development | Related Topics: Agriculture