FARM BUREAU 9TH DISTRICT DISCUSSES WATER ISSUES

by Krista Norton | March 9, 2023

Over 30 Farm Bureau members from 11 counties in Southwest Kansas met Wednesday, March 1, at the 9th District Issue Surfacing Meeting held at the Black Bison Pub. 
The 9th district included representatives from Hamilton, Stanton, Kearney, Greeley, Wichita, Haskell, Grant, Finney, Morton, Seward, and Stevens counties, in addition to 9th District Director Jim Sipes from Stanton County and Resolutions Committee chairman, Brad Niehues, Stevens County. 
The purpose of the Issue Surfacing meeting is to give Farm Bureau members a voice on issues important to them. The issues are then compiled from meetings throughout the state and reviewed by the Resolutions Committee. The committee then addresses issues related to production agriculture and rural and community life in Kansas and then develops tentative resolutions for consideration by voting delegates at the annual meeting in December. 
Sipes reported on issues at the state level, working on conservation, habitat for grasslands regarding several species, and updated members the lesser prairie chicken will hold off being listed as an endangered species until mid-March. 
A continued topic is water. Although issues vary greatly from west to east, the main topic was water issues in Southwest Kansas with the proximity to Colorado and how they struggle to keep water they have been allotted. District 9 chairman, Jarvis Garetson, Haskell County was present as well as Hamilton County committee member Hugh Brownlee. While it consumed a large part of the meeting, important issues were discussed for the Resolutions committee to discuss and take to the state level. 
Guest speaker Jeff Hutton, consulting meteorologist, from Kingman gave a presentation on his findings regarding recent weather patterns, severe weather, drought, and global warming, 
“I think in order for us to get a lot precipitation, it involves the ocean and the sun. The Gulf of Mexico moisture has to be readily available. And a high percentage of the time that is not the case due to the rotation of the earth,” said Hutton. “This spring, I am seeing signs it will be active enough we could get that precipitation. But it may drop off in June, July, and August, returning in the fall with a more wet period.”
Since climate change can be blamed for a lot of situations he joked, “Everyone should believe in climate change because what is climate? It is the average weather over a long period of time. The climate is always changing. But climate change does not produce anything. All it is, is a term given to weather over a 30-year period!” he said. 
Some may blame climate change on higher levels of carbon dioxide, “But the oceans actually release more carbon dioxide than mankind ever will, as well as volcanic eruptions, and we need carbon dioxide,” he explained. 
Looking into March, he predicts the 12 through the 17, something will be coming through. Hopefully good precipitation comes, and around the equinox, March 21 through 22, possibly another big storm. Hutton said, “That will be interesting!” 
So why do we always blame the weather people? Hutton explained theoretically they should be able to tell how the weather is going to occur, but they do not currently know where all the particles in the atmosphere are, “There’s a hundred tredecillion, that is a one with 42 zeros, molecules that are out there. No way we will ever know where everything is located right now!”
But the reality of forecasting is the warming and cooling in the system, making it go one way or the other, similar to floating an object in a river, timing it and tracking its pattern. One time it will flow one way, the next time another way. “We can get a good idea, but we can’t give details, just an idea,” said Hutton in closing.