Farmers are mowing down drought stricken corn fields, especially in hard hit areas such as Illinois and Indiana, according to an Associated Press report.
David Kellerman, Dubois, Illinois, says he has had less than an inch of rain since mid-April in his area in the southern part of the state.
This week he and the farmer he works with cut and baled his corn fields to use as forage for their cattle, according to the AP report.
Indiana is the state where corn is affected the most by drought and heat.
Matt Johnson's popcorn fields in Redkey, Ind., have been burning up by the day, and he expects his insurance adjuster to tell him to mow them over if no rain comes by next month.
"It's pretty sad," Johnson told the AP. "Everything's just so short, so small. We haven't mowed our yard since sometime in May.
We didn't even get an inch of rain in June and haven't gotten an inch yet in July."
Chris Hurt, Purdue University ag economist, confirmed that for the week ending July 8, after the sizzling Fourth of July heat across most of the Corn Belt, that only 12% of Indiana's corn crop was rated good or excellent.
More than 60% was poor to very poor, a number overshadowed at this point in the season only by the drought of 1988, when 90% of Indiana's corn was poor or very poor for the same reporting period.
That year the damage bottomed out at that level, and conditions improved slightly with rain in parts of the Corn Belt during late July.
Stories of terrible corn and deterioration of the crop are emerging from other states as well.
Iowa went from nearly two-thirds of the state rated as good to excellent for corn on July 1, to less than half rated good to excellent on July 8.
Decreases in condition were also reported in Nebraska, Illinois and Ohio.
Now comes word that farmers in Iowa are asking crop adjustors if they can mow down corn...
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Source: Argentine Beef Packers S.A.
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