Iowa Farmer Today

BETTENDORF, Iowa — The dry and hardened earth in Harvey Klindt's fields is crisscrossed with cracks, some stretching across several rows, more than a half-inch wide and several feet deep in spots.

The health of his corn crop is just as bad, with row upon row of wilting stalks bearing stunted cobs and leaves turned yellow and brittle under the constant stress of searing heat, humidity and weeks without a good, solid rain shower.

``This is a critical time for corn,'' said Klindt, who squints at a corn cob just half the size it should be this time of year.

``Things really looked great up until about the first of June. Even if it started raining now and get ideal conditions for a while, I don't think there's any way we could make up for the growth deficit we're dealing with now,'' said Klindt, who has farmed here in Scott County for 42 years.

Across much of southeastern Iowa and central Illinois, farmers are dealing with drought conditions that are earning comparisons to the summer of 1988, one of the worst years on record for producers all across the nation's Corn Belt.

In Scott County, home to some of the most productive and valuable farmland in Iowa, rainfall for the year is 8.9 inches, a third of average and the lowest since record keeping began in 1872, farm and weather officials say.

By Klindt's accounting, his crops received just 0.7 inches of rain July 1, a fraction of that days later and hardly a sprinkle since.

``Some of our fields are going to be a disaster,'' said Klindt, 64, who like many Iowa farmers enjoyed prime weather conditions and bumper crops a year ago.

A band of counties stretching from Iowa City to Davenport, as far north as Maquoketa and south to Fort Madison are also reporting a severe lack of moisture.

On Monday, Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to conduct damage assessments to crops in 20 counties in the state's southeast corner. Such assessments are the first step in pursuing a disaster declaration.

``The corn right now is at its most vulnerable,'' said Harry Hillaker, Iowa's state climatologist. ``The timing couldn't be much worse for fields to be hit with such a persistent run of high heat and dryness.''

Across the Mississippi River, rainfall in a swath of farm-rich counties in northern Illinois is more than 10 inches short of normal.

The dry conditions and poor crop health also prompted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to send a letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns asking that every county in the state be declared a disaster area.

The Farm Service Agency in Illinois said more than 117,000 farmers around the state indicated more than 117,000 farmers reported at least some crop loss, with 74,000 reporting at least a 30 percent loss.

``Conditions are worse here than they are in Iowa,'' said Doug Bailey, a program specialist with the federal Farm Service Agency in Illinois. ``The northern half of the state is in extreme drought.''

Meteorologists are predicting cooler temperatures and showers for parts of the region later this week. But agriculture experts say even a good soaking may be too little to late to save stressed and damaged corn fields.

``We're going to have some farmers taking a huge hit this year,'' said Virgil Schmitt, an extension agent for eight southeastern Iowa counties. ``In some areas, people have already given up and are starting to chop corn for silage and grain feed.''

The Iowa counties identified in Vilsack's request include: Benton, Cedar, Clinton, Davis, Des Moines, Henry, Iowa, Jackson, Johnson, Jones, Keokuk, Lee, Linn, Louisa, Muscatine, Scott, Van Buren, Wapello and Washington.

Meanwhile, crops in many other parts of the state are healthy thanks to steady rains over the last two months.

On the Web

Iowa State University Extension: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/

Farm Service Agency: http://www.fsa.usda.gov/pas/