Midwest Drought: Corn and Soybeans Suffer as Forecasters Expect No Quick Relief for Farmers

A dusty Nick Stanek stepped off his tractor after an evening of round baling hay.

Conditions in La Farge, Wisconsin, are currently great for the crop, but not much else. The weather has been so dry, the grass crunches beneath Stanek’s feet.

Members of a three-generation farm family, he and his brother also grow corn and soybeans across 400 acres.

But the weather isn’t cooperating like the siblings do.

A recent rain shower coaxed some of the soybeans to germinate, but it wasn’t enough; many have struggled to emerge from the “bone dry” ground.

“Of course, if we don’t get any rain, our crop will be a complete loss,” Stanek said.

Farmers are struggling all across the Corn Belt. Drought expanded rapidly throughout the Midwest in June — doubling within the first week after significantly less rainfall than normal. Forecasters say the region is not likely to get relief anytime soon.

Through September, arid conditions are expected to persist or even expand in eastern Iowa and Missouri, Illinois and Wisconsin.

More than 80% of corn and soybean crops in Illinois and Iowa — which together produce more than a quarter of the nation’s total — face drought conditions. Farmers are gritting their teeth as their crops dry up and deteriorate.

“Although it’s probably too early to declare massive losses in crops just yet, that potential is certainly there unless we get some decent rainfall,” said Mark Fuchs, a hydrologist at the St. Louis National Weather Service forecast office.

But most of the Midwest, excluding Minnesota and northern Wisconsin, can expect an inch of rain or less in the next seven days.

“It’s not a jaw-busting outlook,” he said.

Todd Shea, with the NWS forecast office in La Crosse, Wisconsin, said dry weather can beget more