It's not a dust bowl, but scorching temperatures and next-to-no rain are causing plenty of problems in western Kansas. Almost two-thirds of Kansas counties are now eligible for drought disaster assistance and Governor Sam Brownback recently asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to widen the area. As Eric Durban reports for Harvest Public Media, the dry heat is quite a challenge for farmers and ranchers.
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Piece Description
It's not a dust bowl, but scorching temperatures and next-to-no rain are causing plenty of problems in western Kansas. Almost two-thirds of Kansas counties are now eligible for drought disaster assistance and Governor Sam Brownback recently asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to widen the area. As Eric Durban reports for Harvest Public Media, the dry heat is quite a challenge for farmers and ranchers.
Transcript
It's not a dust bowl, but scorching temperatures and next-to-no rain are causing plenty of problems in western Kansas. Almost two-thirds of Kansas counties are now eligible for drought disaster assistance and Governor Sam Brownback recently asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to widen the area. As Eric Durban reports for Harvest Public Media, the dry heat is quite a challenge for farmers and ranchers.
HEAT072911_HPM_ED TRT 3:53 SOC
Thirty-plus days of 100 degree heat changes a place.
Out here in the vast open plains of western Kansas, severe drought has made irrigation futile and turned everyday weeds into poisonous traps.
In the air, you can feel how incredibly dry and how incredibly hot it is.
But the ground? It’s even worse.
AMBI
I asked Kent Martin to come into the fields with me in southwest Kansas to look deep into the parched, cracked earth. Martin is a crop and soil s...
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