Thunderstorms don't relieve Indiana's drought; crops at risk - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Purdue University agricultural experts say Indiana has already lost 13 to 20 percent of its corn crop, and if more rain doesn't come soon, farmers will be in even deeper trouble.

The thunderstorms that have crossed Indiana in the last week didn't do much to relieve the state's drought conditions.

The new U.S. Drought Monitor report released Thursday list nearly a quarter of Indiana as being in extreme drought. That's the same percentage in that category as a week ago, but the report now lists 89 percent of the state as in at least moderate drought.

Also Thursday, Purdue agricultural experts spoke to the media about how the drought of 2012 is already reaching historic proportions. They said the grain crop in Indiana is looking as bad as it did in 1988, when drought cut harvests by 30 percent.

"These droughts are devilish things," said Bob Nielsen, a professor of agronomy and extension corn specialist at Purdue University.

The drought and triple-digit temperatures come at critical time for the pollination period for corn, when the stalk begins to create corn. It takes rain for that to happen, and without rain in the next two weeks, losses could come much worse.

"I'm fairly certain there will be some truly disastrous situations for individual growers. It is serious. It could get way more serious if this heat and drought don't break pretty soon. That is the big uncertainty - we don't know if it's gonna break, but it certainly would appear that it's not going to break very soon based on what we've heard from our meteorologist colleagues," said Nielsen.

Purdue experts believe Indiana farmers will lose hundreds of millions of dollars if the drought continues and corn is unable to pollinate. But the extent of the drought will be felt by everyone, since grain is used to feed livestock, dairy cows, poultry and other food sources. Food prices are expected to increase by 3.5 percent for the remainder of this year and possibly going into 2013.

"I think we've already lost 30 or 40 percent and that's if we get rain. I think we're going below 50 percent on a crop average if we don't get rain," said Tim Cain, a farmer in Hancock County.

Even Cain's best fields aren't very good. Without rain, puny ears of corn won't get much bigger.

"We are going to have small ears and a lot of corn that will have nothing," he said.

The worst conditions are in the state's southwestern counties and much of northern Indiana between Lafayette and Fort Wayne.

Gusty thunderstorms in the past week caused damage in Fort Wayne and other areas but generally little rainfall as much of the state saw its driest June on record.

See burn bans here.

Purdue drought info.