Crops suffering in southeast Wisconsin's moderate drought conditions

CREATED Jul. 9, 2012

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  • Jesse Ritka reports Video by tmj4.com

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LAKE GENEVA - Crops are suffering, almost to the point of no return for some farmers under these moderate drought conditions.  With no rain in sight, that may be the case for some of the corn on the Adams family farm.

So far we are almost four inches below on rain in southeast Wisconsin, Dave Adams tells TODAY'S TMJ4's Jesse Ritka that's terrible for the future of his crops, "If we don't get some rain pretty soon: disaster.  If it's too hot and dry, it just won't pollinate and literally there won't be anything here to harvest.

And the dry forecast is a brutal blow week after week for parts of his farm, "This corn won't make it 10 days, this area right here won't have any yield at all if we don't get rain soon."

Conditions are so dry that the corn is using a defensive mechanism, curling its leaves around itself to trap in some of the moisture.  "It's trying to protect itself and not put so much into the plant so it can put it into the ear if we do get rain," explains Adams.

If the forecast says dry, it could drive up prices at the grocery store.  "A five dollar box of Corn Flakes only has about twelve cents of corn in it... so price of corn could double, it shouldn't make that much difference to the Corn Flakes, but it will," Adams says.

So customers and farmers alike are hoping for a few good rains to save the harvest.  Adams is keeping a positive outlook, "Farmers are basically optimists, so you just hope for the best and keep fighting through it."