At the start of the growing season, commodity prices suggested that farmers were going to be sitting pretty when the crops were harvested. Farmers contend with a lot of unknowns, including the weather, and the increased cost of fuel, fertilizer, and labor have since dampened those earlier hopes. 

“It’s not the banner year it could have been if those [production costs] had been back where they were historically,” said David Northrup, who grows beets, corn, barley, oats and hay on the Willwood. 

Northrup said he had expected that the invasion of Ukraine, which exports a lot of corn and wheat, would have spelled big profits, but as inflation drove up prices, it drove those hopes down. 

“Now it looks like we’re just going to have a regular year,” Northrup said. 

Ric Rodriguez, owner of Rodriguez Farms Inc., grows barley and beets on Heart Mountain. He said that the commodity prices will offset those increased costs of production, but they’re not to the finish line yet. 

“The margins are pretty slim right now, and if you have any kind of a weather wreck or yield loss, your net income is going to be short,” Rodriguez said. 

As the season approached last spring, drought conditions were hanging heavy over much of the state, but toward the end of May and through the middle of June, the Big Horn Basin saw quite a bit of cool weather and regular moisture. The moisture was needed, but it would have been more beneficial if it came later on or earlier. Corn and beans got planted later, which means a later harvest. 

“That cold spring set things up for a different kind of year than we’re used to,” Northrup said. “Timing, timing, timing.” 

Up on Heart Mountain, which typically gets more moisture than surrounding areas, the drought earlier in the year was so bad, Rodriguez said they had to start irrigation earlier than normal. He said it was the first time in 40 years that his farm had to water barley that early. 

The cool, wet weather that came in May and June was ultimately good for the barley, Rodriquez said, but not so good for the beets.

There was also some high-wind weather in late July, which Rodriguez said wasn’t good for the people growing grass seed. 

“They lost some yield there because it just thrashed out the seed. I’ve never seen that happen,” he said. 

Jeremiah Vardiman, agriculture and horticulture educator for the University of Wyoming Extension, said the weather this year has generally been good for pastures, which will benefit the ranchers. 

“It was very good for forage production,” Vardiman said. 

Weather can be fickle, and so what happens in one area may be different just 20 miles away. Northrup said he’s heard that the barley farmers in Burlington and up in Montana got moisture earlier than he did on his farm, so they’ll see some benefits from that. 

How this year’s ag season turns out, Vardiman explained, depends on the final yields the farmers get, as well as how the weather goes this fall. 

“Nobody knows exactly where they stand until everything is harvested and in the bank,” Vardiman said. 

Rodriguez said he’s watching how his crops bulk up in the next few months. If things stay dry and warm, without being too hot, they’ll see a better margin. 

“It depends on what mother nature does from now until the end,” Rodriguez said. 

Northrup is crossing his fingers that the area won’t get hit with an early frost, which can really slim up margins. 

“All we can do now is get ‘er done,” Northrup said.