Drought Forces Colorado Farmer to Salvage Corn for Silage
By Kacey Birchmier | Updated on October 14, 2026
In southeastern Colorado, the drought has decimated the corn crop. This season has been the worst Derek White Heckman, based in McClave, Colorado, has experienced since he began farming in 2018.
“It’s been dry for quite a while,” said White Heckman, a board member of the Colorado Corn Promotion Council. “We’ve been in a long-term drought.”
“If we had two or three years of this, it would be really tough on guys and you might see a lot more bankruptcies in the area,” White Heckman said. Looking back, he recalled severe drought in the early 2000s and 2011–2012, but said the current drought was worse than earlier droughts.
White Heckman grows corn, forage crops, and rotates in crops such as pinto beans and sunflowers, while also incorporating cattle into his operation. He’s learned to lean on crop diversification and soil health practices to manage through these dry times.
The latest U.S. Drought Monitor data, released Oct. 8, shows drought categories for Colorado as:
15.62% None
12.91% Abnormally Dry (D0)
16.28% Moderate Drought (D1)
22.25% Severe Drought (D2)
24.47% Extreme Drought (D3)
8.47% Exceptional Drought (D4)
While he has irrigation, the operation relies on a canal system supplied by the river rather than groundwater from wells. The area’s snow basin recorded its lowest snowpack on record, White Heckman explained.
“In a normal year, we usually get an average of 25 runs of water, and I think we’re on run six now,” White Heckman said.
Crop losses have been significant. White Heckman decided to switch about 95% of his corn acreage to silage. “We just didn’t think that there was going to be much,” he said. “It probably would have made under 50 bushels per acre (bpa), and we shoot for 200- to 250-bushel corn.”
“There was basically nothing there, but enough to run a chopper through and we maybe got two tons an acre on some of those fields,” said White Heckman.
Lessons Learned
“Soil health practices are making a difference,” White Heckman explained. “When we did get rainfall, I know we got it all. It’s allowing our crops to survive a little bit longer.”
Fields with more soil health practices appeared to produce better corn tonnage and withstand the drought a little bit better, he said.
“We’re very thankful for insurance,” White Heckman said. “You hate to use it, but in the times like this, it’s beneficial to make sure that you can still pay your operating note and hope for a better year next year.”
Weather
“Widespread heavy precipitation abetted robust improvement across eastern Colorado,” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM). “Numerous locations reported 3 inches to locally over 6 inches of rain, which was sufficient to support two-category improvements in portions of southeastern Colorado.”
“We have caught a lot of moisture, which has been a blessing,” White Heckman said of the recent rainfall. “Drought maps look better than they did, back in July.”
According to the USDM map, the only areas where conditions deteriorated were in northeastern Colorado.
“Historical correlation analysis shows El Niño is also linked to changes in Colorado weather, where conditions are generally wetter during El Niño years,” said Peter Goble, assistant state climatologist of Colorado for the Colorado Climate Center, in a Colorado State University climate blog article. “This is especially true in fall and spring, when much of the state averages higher precipitation. Furthermore, the Front Range and Eastern Plains are more prone to large spring snowstorms and experience fewer dry and windy spring days (though such days remain frequent regardless).”
“Unfortunately, the link between the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and peak seasonal snowpack levels in Colorado is weak,” Goble said. “Southern river basins, such as the San Juan and Rio Grande, show a loose positive correlation between El Niño and snowpack.”
Crop Progress
Corn
The Crop Production report, released Oct. 9, forecasts Colorado corn yields to decline in 2026 by 36 bpa from an average of 133 bpa in 2025 to 97 bpa in 2026. Colorado farmers are expected to harvest 113.49 million bushels of corn across 1.17 million acres this season, according to the report.
The USDA Crop Progress report, released Oct. 13, rated Colorado corn condition 15% very poor, 36% poor, 13% fair, 36% good, and 0% excellent.
Sorghum
The USDA rated Colorado sorghum condition 19% very poor, 25% poor, 20% fair, 36% good, and 0% excellent.
