The explosive increase in energy costs has forced farmers and ranchers to take hard looks at their production practices. The real value of agricultural products has been in steady decline since the 1950's and agriculture has relied on cheap energy to increase production in an effort to offset this continuing devaluation. We have changed the biological system that our grandparents knew to an industrial system of agriculture based upon the availability of cheap energy. In 1940 American agriculture used 1 Calorie of fossil energy to produce 2.3 Calories of food energy; today we use 10 Calories of fossil fuel to produce 1 Calorie of food. In the process of making this change, we have devalued and degraded the natural resources and processes which drive biological agriculture. Nowhere is this more obvious than our attitude toward and treatment of soil organic content and soil productivity.
Droughts are a regular occurrence for most ranching operations. Ranches tend to be located in areas of natural grassland and one of the formative factors for grasslands is erratic moisture availability. The frequency and severity of droughts varies according to location and this information should be considered when formulating management plans. If drought is recognized as a normal occurrence, then plans may be made to reduce its’ impact upon the operation and upon the soil-plant-animal complex on which the operation depends. The following is an attempt to analyze what occurs during and after drought and to point out management strategies that are useful in alleviating its’ effects.