No Water

It has been quite a summer throughout Nebraska, weather-wise, and the Panhandle is no different. Just in the last week, we have had three hailstorms, with golf ball- and even baseball-sized hail. The last storm was a doozy, pouring a torrent of rain, two inches in little more than an hour, and boasting winds of 90 miles per hour.

Our yard and cars fared pretty well. My petunias and hollyhocks were flattened, but the petunias, at least, are looking much better already. The solar pool cover has quite a few holes in it, but that is easy, and relatively cheap, to replace. Victoria's Mini Cooper has only a couple of new dents, but our daughter, Meagan, wasn't so fortunate: her mini-van sustained thousands of dollars in hail damage while awaiting repairs at a local car dealership.

Other people in Scotts Bluff County didn't come out well at all. Shattered windshields and dozens of dents are not covered by the liability insurance that is all so many younger people can afford. Our shake shingles withstand even the worst of storms, but countless homes will need new roofs. We picked up the blanket of twigs and small branches covering our lawn, and made one trip to the tree dump yesterday, but some of our neighbors lost whole trees, uprooted or snapped off by the hurricane-force gale.

The farmers, as usual, bore the brunt of it. I don't know how badly the beans and beets were affected by the storm, but fields of corn that hadn't been hailed out previously were wind-whipped into shreds. Time will tell whether or not there will be any crops worth harvesting.

Other farmers south of Gering, and west, into Wyoming, have an even bigger problem this summer. Perhaps you have heard about the irrigation tunnel that collapsed in eastern Wyoming, cutting off irrigation water for 107,000 acres of farmland along the 100 miles of irrigation canal that no longer carries any water. Repairs will run into millions and millions of dollars, which will ultimately be paid by the farmers, but the tunnel will not be fixed soon enough to save this year's crop. The New York Times wrote an excellent article about this disaster. You can click on this link to read it.

All farmers carry crop insurance that will cover some of their losses due to weather, but the unexpected lack of irrigation water does not automatically qualify farmers for any coverage at all. Nebraska and Wyoming Congressmen have been working with the USDA to see if an exception could be made for this catastrophic event, and government officials just announced, today, that insurance will be available for farmers affected by this disaster. What a relief! Without assistance, many farmers would have lost all of this year's income, and perhaps even their farms.

It is possible that this year's excessive rain and snow weakened the irrigation tunnel, but the exact cause has not yet been determined. The irrigation canals in our area were built in the early 1900s, and have been regularly inspected and well-maintained since then, with no problems at all, until now. The canals corral the melting snow that flows from the Wyoming Rockies, and channel it to the thirsty Panhandle farmland, preventing unwanted flooding downstream, in the process. It is a system that has worked well for over a hundred years.

The New York Times article was surprisingly favorable and accurate, but, as a friend stated, "the comment section is best avoided."

I read the comments anyway.

I couldn't believe the hostility, the lack of empathy, and the sheer ignorance of the thousands of people who expressed their mostly unfounded opinions.

Some comments were laughable, like the one by the woman who insisted, repeatedly, that the farmers' dilemma would be solved if they would just mulch their crops. 

When we lived in Michigan, years ago, I remember feeling a little bewildered to find that the farms there were so small that we would consider them to be mere acreages, here in Nebraska. It would be pretty easy to mulch an over-sized vegetable garden. In fact, most gardeners in Nebraska do just that, to conserve water and grow healthy plants. But I don't think most city-dwellers have any concept of the magnitude of even one acre, let alone 107,000 acres. Besides, most crops here are planted so close together that their foliage provides its own protective, mulch-like, covering.

Other commenters were adamant that irrigation is a waste of precious water, stating emphatically that we have no business growing crops, or even living, in this so-called desert we call home. 

It's true that our region's annual average rainfall is only about 15 inches a year, compared to a national average of 38 inches. However, we benefit greatly from the Wyoming snow melt that feeds the North Platte River, as well as our irrigation canals. In addition, the immense Ogallala Aquifer sits underground throughout most of Nebraska, providing all of the drinking water we need, and then some.

The green and purple shaded areas show the location of the Ogallala Aquifer.

Even my seven-year-old grandson knows that water is never truly consumed, just recycled, over and over again, as God intended, with the rain and melting snow soaking into the ground and flowing into rivers, which flow into the lakes and oceans, evaporating, forming clouds that give us more rain and snow, producing the moisture needed by all living creatures throughout the world, in a never-ending cycle.

Just this week, Tobin drew the water cycle he was learning about in his science class.

Some critics pointed out that high fructose corn syrup is bad for us, so corn shouldn't be grown at all. They don't realize, apparently, that corn products are used in many different nutritional foods throughout the world, and as cattle feed. Of course, the vegans insisted that we don't need the cattle, let alone corn to feed them.

I hate to think what people would have said if they realized that sugar beets are one of the main crops in the North Platte River valley.

Some people assumed we grow soy beans here; I didn't know that the use of soy beans is a source of contention among certain consumers. Regardless, we grow dry edible beans of many kinds here, not soy beans, so even the most selective eaters should realize how much they need our products.

That brings me to those poor, misguided folks who think all of their food is magically available at the supermarket, with no need for farmers in the first place; their comments aren't even worth considering.

But the worst comments of all came from thousands of merciless people who declared that all of the Trump-supporting farmers in this red state deserve whatever hardship comes their way, and should not receive any help from the government, or anyone else. In their efforts to be politically correct, have they really lost all compassion?

Nebraska's farmers feed the world. Please pray for them!

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Phillipians 4: 6-7