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Average vs. normalBy Holly Martin As I look out my window, I see two combines rolling through a nearby wheat field. Finally. It has been a long, slow process this year and there is no end in sight. In my part of the world over the last several years, the end of June brings hot windy days and fields of stubble. Irrigation systems are usually working to keep corn and beans cool and hydrated. Cows are battling flies and depleting grass in pastures. But, oh how different this year has been. It seems strange when we go several days without a rain. The ponds are full and the irrigation systems have only made a few passes around the field. The thermometer has remained at a bearable temperature for the most part. But the strangest sight is the wheat still standing in the fields (or some of them at least.) This year's wheat crop is a case study in extremes. There are fields that look like bin-busters. Others are all but decimated by hail. And those are two fields next to each other. My publisher called me recently as he was driving across the heart of wheat country. "I'm driving past a wheat field. One end is under water, the middle has a pretty nice-looking wheat crop and the other end is blowing dirt." How, he wondered, do farmers do it in these types of conditions? I certainly don't know the answer. But I have decided there simply isn't a "normal" when it comes to the weather anymore. Yes, there might be an "average," but that is simply a number in between the extremes. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in March of 2006 Dodge City recorded 1.01 inches of rain. This year during the same month, rainfall totaled 3.13 inches. But "average" rainfall for Dodge City is 1.84 inches. If I was a betting woman, I'd say more often than not we are closer to the extremes than we are to the average. What we can only hope is that by spreading risk, farmers can take those extremes and level them out some--and bring in an "above average" crop. Holly Martin can be reached by phone at 1-800-452-7171 ext. 1806 or e-mail at hmartin@hpj.com. 6/25/07
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