With continued drought across the region this winter farmers are concerned about it lingering into the 2021 growing season. Nutrien Atmospheric Scientist Eric Snodgrass says the Drought Monitor indicates expanding and intensifying drought areas which bear watching.

He says he’s monitoring various atmospheric signals to determine if 2021 will be a drought year.

Farmers are apprehensive about forward marketing with the dry setup going into spring. The last year of widespread drought was in 2012 but Snodgrass says the setup is much different in 2021.

For farmers in the region the flash drought late in the 2020 growing season is still fresh on their minds and Snodgrass says it stacks up as one of the worst by climatological standards.

Snodgrass is one of the keynote speakers for the South Dakota Soybean Ag Outlook Virtual Meeting at the end of February.