Southern South Dakota needs rain: ‘We’re extremely dry’

It’s dry in the southern half of South Dakota. The weekly U.S. Drought Monitor, valid for May 5^th, 2026, indicates most southern South Dakota counties are experiencing severe drought. That’s the case at Dave Poppens’ place southwest of Sioux Falls near Lennox, in Lincoln County.

“So, we're extremely dry,” said Poppens, who raises corn and soybeans on 2,700 acres with his son and his nephew.

Poppens, who also custom feeds 1,000 head of cattle, told the South Dakota Soybean Network that before the interview, the last precipitation on his farm was about 1.5 inches of rain that had fallen in late April.

“And that was about the only moisture we've had all spring. We started doing some field work, I believe it was around the 10th of April,” he said, adding that fieldwork began earlier than normal because the soil was dry. “All of our sloughs in this area – it’s kind of common to have sloughs around different areas – there's no water in any of the sloughs.”

Along with most areas of southern South Dakota being in severe drought, some areas, especially in the southwestern corner of the state, are in the extreme drought category. It’s a stark difference from the state’s northern tier of counties where wet ground has delayed planting. Poppens, a South Dakota director on the United Soybean Board, would be grateful for some showers to keep him out of the field at least for a few days. Although Poppens is not yet concerned about full-blown drought at this early stage, if the weather continues as it has, he acknowledges it could turn into a problem.

“We need some moisture terribly bad. The top of the ground is just powder dry,” said Poppens. “Where we're planting, we're probably an inch and a half down or so in the corn. And the soil is slightly moist when you get the seed in there, but that top ground is just like powder.”

Because of that, he expects to be finished with planting ahead of the date that he would usually finish.

“Normally we can be done sometime before Memorial weekend,” he said. “We're pleased with the way that's going, but I think we'll be done here by the 12th or 13th of May, which is ahead of normal for us.”

As is often the case, it’s a relatively short distance between a sparsity of moisture and at least adequate precipitation.

“It seems like you get even north of Interstate 90 a ways, say Madison north,” said Poppens, “there are much better soil conditions just 40 miles north of me here so they have better soil moisture on hand than we do.”