News Headlines

Dry Weather Takes a Huge Toll on Crops

Posted: 3:51 AM Jul 12, 2012
Reporter: Anna Lempereur

The dry weather we are experiencing this summer is taking a huge toll on crops - nearly a third of this year's corn crops in the country are in poor condition.

This is making the costs go up, and dairy, beef and chicken are being affected as well, since they come from animals that eat corn.

Carl Arey, a farmer in Bridgewater, said the corn is the main part of the diet for his cows.

But the dry weather stresses the corn, making the quality not very good.

Arey has been feeding his cows forge and hay, which they would normally eat in the winter.

He said in order to save the crops at this point, we will need to see about two to three days of rain a week, for several weeks.

Arey also pointed out that the corn on his farm is very short, and is half the height it should be at this time.

He said if the dry weather continues, it is going to put a lot of producers and dairy farmers out of business, as milk prices are low and feed prices are high.

"We're losing money. And you can only stand that for so long before you just have to call it quits and find something else. We're losing dairy farmers every year, and it's sad. There's no young people who want to take it over," said Arey.

Arey said with last week's storm, there has probably been about a 10 percent loss of corn that was blown down.