Alaska hay crops lower because of dry summer

Officials with the University of Alaska Fairbanks say a hot, dry summer is leading to smaller hay yields in the state’s interior and the Matanuska Valley.

Those areas are Alaska’s largest hay-growing regions.

UAF’s Cooperative Extension Service say farmers in Fairbanks, Delta Junction and Palmer are reporting yields of one-third to half of their usual harvests.

Extension agent Phil Kaspari says many farmers get a second crop of hay in August, but that harvest looks to be less than half the normal yield.