WEATHER FORECAST 2017

      Every year one of the highlights of the Farm Forum is to hear what Dr. Art Douglas has to say about the weather, local, national, world, and how that translates into agriculture production.  He always includes some statements on the climate and what drives our weather.  This year he went into more detail about climate change and the driving forces behind it, including human contribution.  I'll address his presentation on Climate Change in another post.  

       Dr. Art Douglas is an emeritus professor of meteorology in the Atmospheric Science Department at Creighton University, and has been part of Spokane Farm Forum since 1978, except for one year.  He is the Long-Range Weather Consultant to the Mexican Government, Cattlefax and ConAgra.

           Local Forecast:   Last year's forecast was "spot on" for our operation.  El Nino appears to be coming back.  For us in the PNW that means drying and warming trend.  It's predicted that spring and summer will be a little below average rainfall and a little above average temperatures.  Our WW should be fine.  No more arctic outbreaks are expected.  Spring crops may be iffy depending on location.  Getting WW for the 2018 crop seeded timely may be challenging do to low rainfall conditions this summer and fall.  I think we will be seeding early.
           These are the conditions that we have planned for with our ULD-DS system.  Gather, and hold every drop of rain possible, using heavy ground cover,  tall residue, and minimal ground disturbance.
           It sounded like the only places in the world that may have stressed crops for 2017 will be Australia and possibly spring crops in the PNW.