This year’s weather has big impact on farmers in West Tennessee

JACKSON, Tenn. — This year’s weather has had a big impact on farmers in West Tennessee.

“We had a pretty rough winter. It was cold, single digits for a week or more, so it was a rough winter compared to what we normally have,” Jake Mallard, UT Extension Agent, said.

Jackson’s total rainfall for 2018 is 10 and a half inches more than the normal value. Mallard says they’ve had a short amount of time to plant everything.

“We had some little dry spells that come in. Most of our crops got planted at that window,” Mallard said.

But it’s not just the excessive rain impacting crops.

“One female pigweed plant produces up to 500,000 seeds. We’re having to pump back and think of solutions to try and kill this weed,” Mallard said.

Mallard says this weed isn’t easily controlled by herbicides, and there are whole rows of crops completely taken over by it.

As long as the rain stays normal for the rest of the season, Mallard says he isn’t too worried about the harvest.

“Cotton’s looking good, corn’s looking good, beans are coming up. As long as we don’t get four inches in a day, we should be good,” Mallard said.

Mallard says one way the community can help is if you’re out driving and end up behind one of their tractors just give them some space. They say if the line gets too long they will over to let everyone pass.