Farmers in western Iowa trying to come back from last year's historic flooding have been dealt another blow. Drought conditions are starting take a toll on their crops.
“Out here in southwest Iowa many crops have been made or lost because of H2O, either too much of it or not enough of it,” Don Brothers, who farms corn and soybeans in Harrison and Pottawattamie Counties, tells 6 News. He says it’s been nearly eight weeks since he has had any significant rainfall on his crops.
Roughly half of the state is in some sort of drought condition, hitting the western side the hardest.
“Usually the state would see pretty heavy precipitation in the month of July and we just didn’t see that this year,” Andrew Wheeler, with the Iowa Farm Bureau tells 6 News. “And that’s an integral part of the season, so it’s been very devastating.” He says you won’t see many irrigation systems in Iowa, so when it's this dry, conditions are really bad.
(Photo from WOWT-Channel 6)