BOZEMAN — After a dry winter, much-needed rain arrived across Montana this past weekend, offering a boost to farmers facing an uncertain growing season.
“Really dry up here, and a lot of our wheat was failing until this rain came,” said Ken Johnson, who farms east of Conrad.
Johnson grows grains and pulse crops such as green peas — a family occupation passed down through generations.
WATCH: Spring rains bring relief to Montana farmers after record dry, warm winter
“My grandmother came in 1910 from Norway. My grandpa was also from there. They got together and started farming this place in 1927,” Johnson said.
As a board member of the Montana Grain Growers Association, Johnson knows just how devastating a dry season can be for farmers statewide.
“It kinda eats on you a little bit. You watch your crops wither,” he said.
With this past winter seeing record-low precipitation, Johnson stated he is already seeing the effects.
“Our green peas came out of the ground — we planted them a month and a half ago — and they’re only about three inches tall. They weren’t dying, but they weren’t growing either because they didn’t have any moisture,” he said.
To get a perspective on just how dry conditions were, Chief Meteorologist Mike Heard explained that “the winter was horribly dry. Not only horribly dry, it was horribly warm.”
It is said that spring has been inconsistent across the state.
“We’re running a little bit below normal. Even with the last storm, it’s highly mixed across the state — some areas are above average, some areas are below,” he said.
In Bozeman, Heard noted that while the city typically sees 6.86 inches of precipitation during its vital spring months, it is currently above average at 7.42 inches. However, a significant amount of that moisture came from this past weekend’s storm.
“The drought was really starting to get going here over the last couple of weeks. Now with all this rain, hopefully that’s eased it down, but it’s temporary — that’s not long term,” Heard said.
For Johnson, the rain has lifted spirits for now.
“How were you feeling when the rain was coming down all weekend?” I asked.
“It really gives a little hope that we’ll have some harvest to do. It means we keep getting more potential for yield and hopefully will make an average crop. It’s definitely a blessing to get all this rain,” Johnson said.
