For many people, burning sunlight is the symbol of drought. In a Progressive Farmer story, it is powder-dry soil and wind that are ever-present for farmers and ranchers in southeastern Colorado. “There is no escaping the dirt. It has a taste. It has a smell. It coats the very air. It destroys motors and engines, and ruins high-tech gadgetry,” says the story. The wind literally sand blasts everything.
In their home, a farm couple wears handkerchiefs over their faces because of the dust. “Each morning, we start the new day by wiping the dust off the coffee pot,” says Jillane Hixson of Lamar, Colo. Drought has persisted for more than three years, desiccating the landscape. “It’s like standing on the moon,” says cattle rancher Doug Hasser. “Everything is brown.”