Extreme drought across Midwest impacting crop conditions

MIDWEST (KHQA) — Dry soil conditions continue to plague many Midwestern states including portions of the Tri-States.

With the harvest season getting ready to start up in the next couple of weeks, agricultural professionals are asking themselves what this year's crops might look like.

The area produces over 33% of the world's corn and 34% of the world's soybeans, but drought conditions in some locations could limit this year's yield.

Overall the corn crop in Illinois is doing well. According to data from the United States Department of Agriculture, 70% of the crops are in good or excellent condition.

Champaign County in Illinois is currently in severe drought conditions for the lack of rainfall they have seen so far this summer.

According to the University of Illinois Prairie Research Institute, Champaign has had a little over 23 inches of precipitation so far this year, which is almost 5.5 inches lower than normal.

"They've been in kind of like a bubble where they have not got any rain in like the last 60 days," said Justin Lewis is an associate professor at John Wood Community College of Agricultural Science Field. "So they are hurting pretty good."

He says drought conditions are fairly good in Northeast Missouri and West-Central Illinois.

The exceptions are in McDonough, Hancock, Lee and Van Buren Counties where abnormally dry and even moderate drought conditions are taking place.

"What that does with a lack of rain is it pushes that plant through a big stage of stress there for a few weeks," Lewis said.

That stress is being felt the most across the Central Plains, where extreme and even exceptional drought is taking place.

In Nebraska, only about 40% of the corn crop is in good or excellent shape with 35% of the crop labeled as poor or very poor.

Norfolk, a Nebraska town that's currently under extreme drought conditions, is about 10 inches below normal in precipitation so far this year.

Southern and Northwestern parts of Iowa are also facing severe droughts.

The crop numbers are better in Iowa though with 65% of corn crops in good or excellent condition and only about 10% are rated poor or very poor.

And it's not only corn crops being effected but also soybeans and grasslands.

The end of the harvest season will likely to tell the full story on the true impacts on this summer's weather.