“This comes after 2020’s surveys showed statewide cropland rents had fallen 0.42% while land values went up slightly, 1.73%,” says Bryon Parman, North Dakota State University Extension agricultural finance specialist.
With respect to rents, NDSU county regional groupings showed surprising consistency across regions, he adds. Only two regions, the north-central and the southeast, showed any decline, at 1% and 1.88%, respectively.
“Although that is technically a decline, it is still not dramatically far off the state average of 0.77% growth and easily explained by data noise,” Parman says.
The two largest percentage changes of cash rents in any direction were in the northeast region, showing 3.56% growth, and the northern Red River Valley, showing 2.65% growth. Regions with a percentage growth between 1% and 2% were the northwest, at 1.32%, the southwest, at 1.36%, the south-central, at 1.95%, and the southern Red River Valley, at 1.4%. The east-central region data showed
The winter of 2020-2021 has been extremely dry, warm and windy.
As of April 12, all of North Dakota was in drought, with approximately 70% of the state in extreme drought (D3 on a scale of D0 to D4). This condition has created a “perfect storm,” with large amounts of dry vegetation, low humidity, dry soils and wind fueling a high-risk environment for wildfires.
So, what are the impacts of fire on the plant community and forage production, soil erosion and animal health?
“Let’s start with the plant community,” says Kevin Sedivec, North Dakota State University Extension rangeland management specialist and director of NDSU’s Central Grasslands Research Extension Center. “Because the wildfires to date have been classified as dormant-season fires (prior to the growing season), there should be no impact on the plant community in terms of species change on rangelands, plant density on grass hay stands or forage production of new growth.”
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All of North Dakota is in drought, with 47% in severe drought.
As a result, many ranchers are going through the process of developing drought plans for 2021.
North Dakota State University Extension specialists will host a live monthly webinar to assist ranchers as they navigate the drought. The webinars will be held the last Thursday of each month at 1 p.m. Central time and will start on Thursday, April 29.
The webinars will begin with an update on drought conditions and climate outlook. Specialists then will discuss upcoming drought triggers, how to access triggers for ranches and management strategies to consider. The goal is to help ranchers make timely decisions and enhance their ability to withstand the drought, as well as give them an opportunity to discuss drought-related concerns.
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