Lancaster County dairies under stress as drought lowers corn yields

• By Elizabeth Deornellas/LNP | LancasterOnline

As the corn harvest begins at Brubaker Farms in East Donegal Township, Mike Brubaker says he’s anticipating the worst corn crop the farm has seen in “many, many years.”

Brubaker is one of the dairy farmers in northwest Lancaster County who faced the worst of this summer’s drought and are now confronting significantly low corn yields that will force them to buy supplemental feed and file crop insurance claims.

Although Lancaster County’s northwest saw less rainfall overall, summer rain varies widely from area to area, and farmers are reporting that corn planted earlier suffered more as dry heat waves dominated the July growing season.

The squeeze on farmers’ budgets is unlikely to impact consumers, Penn State Extension agronomy educator Jeff Graybill said in an email.

“The price of milk is affected mostly by national trends and not locally as much, so it will affect individual farms’ net income but should not affect the local price,” Graybill wrote.

Brubaker Farms has seen its early corn produce a crop that is between 40% and two-thirds reduced from a normal yield, Brubaker said. He expects more volume from the farm’s later corn, but still projects a significant yield reduction.

Yippee! Farms in Rapho Township doesn’t expect to start harvesting until later this week at the earliest, but dairy farmer Arlin Benner said he’s also anticipating a low yield, estimating that his crop could be reduced by 35% to 45%.

That would qualify Benner for crop insurance – his policy kicks in if he suffers more than a 30% reduction in yield.

Brubaker said his crop insurance policy is designed as a cushion for the worst harvests.

“It’s for times like this when it’s on the verge of being a catastrophic event,” Brubaker said.

Both Brubaker and Benner said they’re anticipating filing crop insurance claims this year.

Brubaker milks 1,200 cows, and Benner has 800 at his Lancaster County location. Both also said they will need to buy supplemental feed this year.

“That’s a cost that’s not necessarily in the budget,” Brubaker said, estimating that he will likely pay “a couple hundred thousand dollars” for the extra feed and that his crop insurance claim is unlikely to fully cover that extra cost.

Benner estimated he’ll need to buy an extra $150,000 worth of feed and that his crop insurance is likely to cover half that cost.

Rainfall spotty, yields vary

Northwest Lancaster County received 20% to 30% less rainfall than normal this summer, while central areas saw a little less than normal and the southeast saw above normal rainfall, said Dale Mohler, a senior forecaster specializing in commodity forecasts at Accuweather State College.

Of the four heat waves – at least three consecutive days of temperatures in the 90s – that hit Lancaster County this summer, three arrived in the middle of the July growing season: July 4 to 10, July 13 to 17 and July 31 to Aug. 3.

Millersville University Weather Information Center recorded its hottest-ever May-to-July stretch in 110 years, and much of the county faced “moderate drought” in July.

Severe drought damage wasn’t universal across the northwest and northern regions of the county, and dairy farms that saw more rainfall are looking forward to a better corn harvest.

In Conoy Township, dairy farmer Justin Risser planted a later crop to feed Meadow Vista’s 875 cows. The majority of his corn was younger when the July dry spell hit, and he said it suffered less than the more developed corn in some of his fellow farmers’ fields.

Risser’s crop appears to be on the shorter side, but early choppings are looking pretty good, he said.

“I think we’re going to be OK,” Risser said.

Anthony Zimmerman manages 185 cows on his farm in Lititz, and he described his early harvest as noticeably but not significantly down. Although the corn didn’t grow as high as normal, his crop should still produce pretty decent volume, he said.

“We’re thankful with what we’ve got,” Zimmerman said.

Sweet corn growers also largely avoided significant yield issues. There were isolated reports of farmers who did not have enough water to fully irrigate, but overall the sweet corn harvest, which is largely done for the season, proved a good year for local producers, said Penn State Extension vegetable and fruit educator Tim Elkner.