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Idaho dairy farmers produce more milk and cheese than almost any state in the nation. Idaho is ranked third behind California and Wisconsin.

Some Idaho Farmers Suffer, Others Succeed In Summer’s Drought

drought, field, agriculture
Molly Messick
/
Boise State Public Radio

In Idaho’s arid, high desert, the drought has a mixed effect.  There’s a big divide between farmers with deep wells and irrigation, and those without.

Hans Hayden is a rare find: a talkative farmer.  He likes to explain things.  But when it comes to the wheat he planted this spring, there’s not much to say.  This field needed rain it didn’t get.  “At this point in time, it kind of looks like a desert,” Hayden says.

In a good year, his spring wheat would be nearly three feet high by now.  The top of each stalk – the head – would be heavy with grain.

Hayden walks across his field’s gentle slope.  He steps on stunted rows and kicks up dust.  He stops, and picks a single stalk of wheat.  Click here to continue reading...

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