Drought could mean disaster for corn crop.
The lack of rain through June in combination with the abnormally high temperatures has the situation looking rather grim.
“Rains have been pretty spotty and variable,” said Charles Brown with Iowa State Extension.
The main concern at the moment is the corn crop with the corn harvest dependent on July precipitation, but soybeans and hay are also showing stress from the heat.
On a scale of 1-10 in severity “we’re probably getting up to that 6-7 area,” said Brown.
“Oh yeah definitely worried,” said Clark Yeager.
“The corn yield is made in July and all I have is corn.” Yeager says he’s seen “rolling” on the plants and “the corn looks like a pineapple field.” He’s also seen some firing where the leaves start to yellow or brown.
“Obviously we’ve been dry and haven’t seen much rain for a while since May” said Johnson.
“Wapello County is sitting right in the heart of it,” said Johnson.
We have to be spoon fed moisture to have a good crop,” said Johnson.