Technology in agriculture has evolved over centuries. Each year, there seems to be a new tool or machine that aims to make farming more efficient. From the very first digging sticks and hoes, to today’s artificial intelligence technology, agriculture is always moving forward. However, through centuries of advancement, one major factor in agriculture has remained relatively uninfluenced by technological forces: the weather.
In 2024 and early 2025, Ohio saw dramatic weather patterns. One of the most severe droughts in the state’s history started in 2024, heavily impacting eastern and southern Ohio. Then, in the beginning of 2025, a winter storm swept the state, with some areas reporting upwards of 11 inches of snowfall. This was followed by frigid temperatures, some of which dropped into the negatives. This culmination of weather events impacted Ohio agriculture operations, leaving farmers wondering how they will move forward into 2025.
“Farmers are still working through some of those challenges,” Garth Ruff, a field specialist for Ohio State University Extension, said. “In the long term, I guess there’s a few questions what that will look like as we go into 2025.”
Ruff works specifically with farmers on beef-related issues. He said that the drought of 2024 has implications for the future of pastures, specifically regarding how fields will regrow. Additionally, Ruff said that farmers will spend time troubleshooting hay availability and forage supply.
Caleb Scott is a student studying Construction Systems Management at Ohio State. He, his uncle and his grandpa run about 200 head of cattle in Muskingum, Ohio.
“In terms of the drought, the way that it affected us was hay,” Scott said. “I'd say we were less than half of what we normally would get hay-wise.”
For Scott and his family, hay is their biggest cash flow. The 2024 drought impacted their farm’s profitability for the year. Scott said this was one of the most significant weather events Ohio agriculture has seen in years.
“My grandpa is in his 70s, and he said that that's the worst [drought] he's ever seen,” Scott said. “We had to haul water at least two or three times a day to support my house and the farm.”
After the new year, Ohio farmers didn’t get much of a break before a winter storm hit the state. For winter calving, drastic snowfall and subzero temperatures posed an issue.
“I've seen a lot of baby calves, I’m guessing no more than a couple weeks old here lately,” Ruff said. “You worry about those calves, keeping them warm. Are they going to have short ears, or maybe short tails?”
More than anything, Ruff said that in terms of livestock safety, it’s important for barns to have proper winter ventilation. Overall, farmers should be preparing for more extreme weather patterns.
Dr. Jana Houser, an associate professor in the Department of Geology at Ohio State, said that these extreme weather patterns are not just one-off events but rather indications of a changing climate system.
“We are likely to be seeing more frequent events that are extreme like this, especially in the precipitation and temperature domains,” Dr. Houser said. “It might be more common that we're seeing these flip-flops between extreme highs and extreme lows, and drought and extreme wet [conditions].”
Dr. Houser said that the drought was a result of the El Niño pattern. El Niño is a naturally occurring climate pattern that causes above average sea temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. The El Niño pattern in summer 2024 caused a jet stream that kept all the storm systems in the far north, and in this case that happened to be in Canada, Dr. Houser said.
“As a result of that, we didn't see the traditional sort of wiggles in the jet stream that tend to bring cold fronts down and bring cooler temperatures,” Dr. Houser said. “We also had, simultaneously, not just the dryness, but we had heat.”
As Ohio shifted into the winter, Dr. Houser said that Ohio’s temperature conditions were directly linked to temperatures in South America.
“What ended up happening is we actually had pretty warm temperatures across most of the Pacific,” Dr. Houser said. “But then the flip side of that was we got this blast of cold air that continually was just kind of channeling and moving cold air into the main area of the United States, especially east of the Rockies.”
The fact that Ohio was shifting out of the El Niño pattern likely exacerbated the cold temperatures in late 2024 and early 2025, Dr. Houser said.
It’s important to remember that individuals shouldn’t blame climate change for any single event, but should instead recognize conditions promoted by climate change can exacerbate and make that one event a little bit more extreme, Dr. Houser said. She said that her general rule of thumb is that when you start to see patterns emerge, those patterns tend to be persistent.
In addition, Dr. Houser said she believes it's likely that farmers can anticipate future extreme weather patterns like the ones experienced in 2024 and early 2025.
“I think it's important for agriculture and farmers to be aware that that is a very real possibility for the future,” Dr. Houser said. “It's going to take a lot of planning and preparation to design resilient infrastructure that's going to be able to handle those variations in extreme weather.”
From drought to extreme cold, Ohio is experienced in unpredictable weather. Of course, farmers will have to remain adaptive as time goes on. However, one thing is certain: agriculture technology will continue to evolve and advance to combat the weather.