Insider Blog: How past drought conditions have affected agriculture, and what Missouri could see in the future

This summer has been hard for agriculture, with intense drought lasting throughout these past couple of months. Last month alone, almost 99% of Missouri was in a drought, causing farmers to make tough decisions with their livestock and crops. This drought also damaged select crops, creating several problems for the agriculture business as a whole.

Over the past week, drought conditions have improved with the substantial amounts of rainfall we've observed. But, this doesn't mean that problems are completely gone. In the next week, Missouri will be seeing below average rainfall for this time of the year. On the other hand, if Missouri observes too much rainfall, it can cause problems with agriculture as well.

One hopeful note is that during the fall, the National Weather Service is currently forecasting some moisture for Missouri, which could help continue to eat away at the current drought conditions.