When rainfall gauges were vandalized in Colorado and Kansas, a gang of farmers collected millions, and got caught

Artem Beliaikin via Sunsplash

Raindrops kept falling on the land, but just like the guy whose feet were too big for his bed, nothing seemed to fit …

Some version of the line from that 1969 B.J. Thomas tune — “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” — may have been going through the minds of the National Weather Service staff in Pueblo, Colorado, 10 years ago. In a June report by Chris Bennett in Farm Journal’s AgWeb Magazine, Meteorologist in Charge Jennifer Stark described it like this: “The precipitation data we were seeing made no sense to us. We’d watch radar with storms moving over southeast Colorado, and we had weather stations tabulating data hourly, but they’d often report no precipitation.”

Ahh, but there was someone else singing a stanza of that tune. In fact, a gang of someones. A group of fearless farmers did them some talking with the sun, and said they didn’t like the way he got things done, so they faked the burn.

To the NWS staff, Bennett explained, “rain appeared to fall everywhere” except into their rain gauges. “We started having weather observers calling and saying they were having trouble with their gauges,” Stark said. “Our technicians would go take a look and find unbelievably odd things.” Things like funnels siliconed, bowls tipped, wires cut, parts shotgunned, bolts loosened.

It was all part of a scheme to collect millions of dollars worth of federal crop insurance benefits. After doing about $11,000 in damage to these gauges, across portions to two states, Kansas and Colorado, Patrick Esch and Ed Dean Jagers managed to prove that their properties were suffering from extreme drought and collect $6.5 million. 

Like in all good true crime stories, in the end the duo and their cohorts were caught. They turned on each other. There were bribes and threats in emails and notes from girlfriends. One was wired up. One was imprisoned and then escaped, eventually found dead and rotting under mysterious circumstances. But crime paid for him, or at least for his estate, which got $500,000 in payment for his cooperation.

This was a particularly unusual agricultural fraud scheme but it was not singular. According to Bennett’s report, “crop insurance fraud echoes over certain counties and regions around the nation. Tobacco deception in east Kentucky and North Carolina; prevent plant in the Mississippi Delta; citrus schemes in Florida; and other crops according to locale.”

Quick hits: Tick app; Northeast rice crops; health benefits of dancing; moon farms; meteorologists get to Hollywood

As spring turns into summer, more ticks are hitching rides on socks, shoes, pant legs and hairdos. The tiny vectors bite thousands of people each year and spread diseases such as alpha-gal syndrome, Lyme disease, babesiosis and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. But there is hope. Researchers are asking people to share their tick bites and discoveries on The Tick App so that their habits can be better understood and more effective preventive practices can be developed. The Tick App also gives tips for identifying and removing ticks.

The Northeast isn't known as a rice-growing mecca, but as the region's climate changes, some farmers are giving the crop a try. "Around New York and beyond, weather has shifted to become more extreme, bringing intense rainfall and hailstorms that could damage crops," reports Alice Sun for Offrange. Rice paddies are flood-resistant, able to withstand extreme weather, and the crop fetches a good price. Researchers at Cornell University, along with some "pioneering farmers are working to make it a more common crop in the Northeast, as a buffer for farmers to adapt to increasingly unpredictable weather."

Maria isn't sure about Elmo's reasoning. (Sesame Street photo)

Fans of "Sesame Street," past or present, may want to watch the new documentary tracing the life and career of actress Sonia Manzan, better known as the character "Maria." As Maria, Manzan became the first Latina to appear on a regular TV series, reports Greg Toppo of The74. The film travels back to Manzan's difficult upbringing in the South Bronx during the 1950s, follows her big break with the musical Godspell, and includes her adventures with Oscar the Grouch and Elmo on Sesame Street. The film is currently touring at film festivals throughout the spring and summer.

Even dancing from a sitting position is considered
healthy movement. (Photo by E. Marritz,Dance for PD)

What activity can be done while sitting or standing, creates joy and is healthy? If you thought dancing, you're correct. "Modern research is now catching up to the fact that dance is medicine, a deeply effective intervention for physical, cognitive and emotional health," reports Michaela Haas for Reasons to be Cheerful. "In a longitudinal study, seniors who took part in regular dance training fell less often and were 'physically better off and mentally fitter' than those in the control group."

It's not going to be science fiction for much longer: NASA is learning how to farm on the moon. "As we get ready to feed astronauts on the Moon and Mars, NASA scientists are figuring out how to build soil from scratch," reports Lela Nargi for Offrange. "Ralph Fritsch, a NASA retiree and lead subject matter expert for the Mars to Table challenge, which seeks to identify plausible 'surface habitat food systems,' believes space ag will probably start with hydroponics. . . . Although Fritsch believes dirt-based space greenhouses are years from fruition, there’s still been heavy investment in research."

Everyone asks about, talks about and complains about the weather -- it's a shared human experience. With the exception of farmers, who are also weather obsessed, few people might glamorize meteorologists. Until now. "Meteorologists are rarely the heroes of major Hollywood movies. Never say never," writes Rebecca Hersher of NPR. "The new film 'Pressure' is a lightly fictionalized version of the actual lead-up to the D-Day invasion of France by Allied troops during World War II, and the crucial role of meteorologists in deciding when that battle would happen." 

National Weather Service has hundreds of vacancies, 'exhausted employees'

The National Weather Service was created to protect people and property. (NOAA graphic)

On any given day, the National Weather Service deploys staff to research, predict and issue warnings for weather activity across the United States, which covers a total of roughly 3.8 million square miles. However, after losing 600 employees this spring, the agency is now stretched thin and may struggle to meet the demands of fall weather, which includes a busy hurricane season.

"Exhausted employees have maintained weather monitoring and forecasting almost without interruption, staff said. But many are wondering how much longer they can keep it up," report Hannah Natanson and Brady Dennis of The Washington Post.

Despite receiving an exemption from the federal hiring freeze and working to replace lost staff, the agency still has hundreds of vacant positions, an active Atlantic hurricane season, and a possible government shutdown to manage.

Tom Fahy, legislative director for the National Weather Service Employees Organization, the union that represents the agency’s workers, told the Post, "We have a strained and severely stretched situation. . . .There’s a breaking point.” 

A spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration offered reassurances that the Weather Service is “'equipped to meet its mission of protecting American lives and property through timely forecasts and critical decision support services,'" the Post reports. "But even before this year’s losses, the Weather Service was considered understaffed."

Since NWS shortages have been extreme, the Trump administration gave the agency permission to "list and hire 450 positions," Natanson and Dennis add. "But it won’t be an immediate fix. . . . Federal hiring is often slow. . . .Government work may seem like a bad option, since Trump has stripped away the guaranteed job stability that once made up for the lower pay."

Ag roundup: Screwworm update; Prop 12 egg suit; zoning officials close15-year-old's bait shop; disaster aid opens

Screwworm concerns closed U.S.-Mexico livestock trading 
again. (Meredith Corp. photo via Successful Farming)

Continuing its uphill battle to prevent screwworms from re-entering the U.S., the Department of Agriculture suspended its plan to "gradually resume imports through four further ports in the coming months," reports Oliver Ward of Successful Farming. "The announcement came just two days after USDA reopened a single port of entry for Mexican livestock in Douglas, Arizona."

Chickens and eggs are back in the news as the Trump administration files suit against California over its Proposition 12 egg rules that require cage-free housing for egg-laying hens. The suit claims the state's restrictions "violate the federal Egg Products Inspection Act, which it said trumps state egg regulations," reports Philip Gruber of Lancaster Farming. "California law raises egg prices for consumers by preventing farmers across the country from using standard agricultural practices that would help keep prices down, President Donald Trump’s administration said in a July 9 filing."

Max McKinney and his bait stand that officials have
now closed. (Photo by Foss Farms via Farm Journal)

At 15 years old, Max McKinney was already an entrepreneur running his own bait and snack shop until zealous county officials shut him down. McKinney’s 6’x15’ shop "was deemed a zoning violation by Washburn County, Wis., officials," reports Chris Bennett for Farm Journal. "After snapping photographs of the stand as proof of McKinney’s assault on county code, zoning officials issued a cease-and-desist letter, ordering closure under penalty of daily fines." Read how the McKinney family responded here. McKinney's bait shop isn't the only one to get zapped by rule-strapping officials.

Farmers with crops battered by natural disasters in 2023 and 2024 can now apply for USDA aid payments. "The program, referred to as the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program, will be administered in two stages," reports Lydia Johnson of Successful Farming. "The first application stage begins this week for producers with eligible crop losses caused by hurricanes, wildfires and other weather events who received assistance under crop insurance or the non-insured crop disaster assistance program. The second stage will begin in the fall for producers with eligible shallow or uncovered losses."

A Kansas district will open its ag-focused center in a remodeled grade school 
that was closed years ago. (USD 269 photo via The Daily Yonder)

After years of declining student enrollment, the Palco-Damar-Zurich school district (Unified School District 269) in western Kansas found a way to harness its farming history and grow again. "About a dozen new students have signed on, drawn by a new Ag-Focused School model and the opening of USD 269’s Northwest Kansas Agriculture Education Center program," reports Lane Wendell Fischer of The Daily Yonder. "Their vision is to provide some form of agriculture education from preschool through high school. At the elementary levels, students will be engaged in ag-related activities, lessons, and will even roll up their sleeves to do some chores."

Few people are more obsessed with the weather than farmers. While American farmers have a myriad of tools to use, many rely on the U.S. Drought Monitor to measure critical rainfall information. But the Drought Monitor also informs scientists, academics, water management experts and regular citizens about national rainfall across time. Below are examples of July Drought Monitor maps, where the difference of a year can be easily compared. 

 

Fatal Texas flooding leads to controversy over National Weather Service staffing cuts

The violent waters of the Guadalupe River flipped this
 motor home. (Photo by Sergio Martínez-Beltrán, NPR)

The fatal July 4th flooding in central Texas has led to questions over whether staffing cuts at the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration contributed to the tragedy, which left more than 100 people dead. "The floods occurred along Texas’s Guadalupe River, roughly an hour’s drive northwest of San Antonio," reports Miriam Waldvogel of The Hill.

"The Austin/San Antonio Weather Service office’s warning coordination meteorologist, who organizes alerting the outside world about agency forecasts, took a Trump administration buyout in April," reports Rachel Frazin of The Hill. 

Rick Spinrad, who headed NOAA during the previous administration, "pointed to the absence of a warning coordination meteorologist," Frazin writes. Spinrad told her, "Information went out with significant lead time of several hours, and yet no action was taken. . . . In the weather forecast offices, the one who follows up with that is the position called the warning coordination meteorologist. And guess what, there is no WCM in the San Antonio/Austin weather forecast office, because that’s one of the positions that was lost in the cuts. . ."

A NWS spokesperson told The Hill that the Austin/San Antonio office and the San Angelo office "had additional forecasters on duty during the catastrophic flooding event in Texas’s Hill Country during the July 4 holiday weekend."

While Democrats want NWS cuts scrutinized for the part they may have played in the catastrophe, "President Trump said staffing cuts didn’t impact the handling of the incident," Frazin reports. Trump told reporters, "That was really the Biden set-up … but I wouldn’t blame Biden for it, either. . . . This is a hundred-year catastrophe, and it’s just so horrible to watch."

Trump will be in central Texas today, although "it’s not clear yet where he will visit," Waldvogel reports. "The deadly flash floods [swept through] Kerrville, Ingram, and Hunt, along with summer camps including Camp Mystic."

National Weather Service hiring to cover field offices left shorthanded after DOGE cuts

The NWS was understaffed as spring storms hit towns in
the central-eastern U.S. (Photo by G. Johnson, Unsplash) 

After facing public backlash over unstaffed or understaffed field offices, the National Weather Service is back in hiring mode. "Erica Grow Cei, a National Weather Service spokesperson, says the new hires will fill positions at field offices where there's 'the greatest operational need,'" reports Greg Allen of NPR. The National Weather Service has been short-staffed since the Trump administration terminated 600 NWS employees in early 2025.

The NWS plans to hire around 125 people to fill positions that will help rebalance workloads and return some services to the field. Tom Fahy, legislative director with the union that represents NWS employees, told Allen, "The positions' categories are meteorologist, hydrologist, physical scientist and electronic technicians." Electronic technicians maintain and repair the sensitive radar equipment used to predict severe weather.

Following the staffing cuts, some NWS field offices "were no longer staffed around the clock," Allen reports. "Some also cut back on weather balloon launches, critical tools in gathering data needed for local and national forecasts, according to the National Weather Service."

The loss of vital employees throughout tornado season and heading into hurricane season left the NSW scrambling to cover high-risk areas. Mary Glackin, a former undersecretary at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told Allen, "We're in the middle of a severe weather season, and I know that's put quite a strain on the system. It's not a good time to be understaffed."

Filling the NWS positions will take time. Allen writes, "Glackin expects it will be September at the earliest before many of the positions are filled. And she notes, after the cuts earlier this year, NWS is short several hundred positions."