Almost a fifth of the state is in a moderate drought, and the federal department of agriculture says about half of Ohio is listed as “abnormally dry." And that lack of rain is having a mixed effect on farmland, according to Ohio Department of Natural Resources Director Jim Zehringer.
“Some farmers are going to have the best crops they’ve had this year, and over where I live in Mercer County, in the western part of the state, we really needed rain and only got some about a week ago, so we’re going to have pretty poor crops. Now, it’s been good for algal blooms and nutrient runoff issues that we’ve been fighting. So this has been a good year for Grand Lake St. Marys and Lake Erie.”
The moderate drought area is all in northern Ohio, stretching from southern Toledo all the way to the Pennsylvania line.
