Much of Central Illinois under moderate drought, farmers seeing impacts

DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) - In the newest Illinois drought monitor, more than 30% of the state is under a moderate drought. A large portion of that area is in Central and Southern Illinois.

In the last six weeks, Central Illinois has seen very little rain. However, rain in June and July has kept the growing season from being too heavily impacted.

"We got a good amount of rain in June and July ... and then August was bone dry in most places," said Trent Ford, Illinois State Climatologist. "As far as yields go, not disaster, but certainly disappointment, given that if we go back maybe two months ago, folks were expecting quite a large crop because of the rainfall that came in June and July."

One of those farmers expecting a bigger yield was Paul Butler, who farmed in Macon for 23 years. He was expecting more from his 600 acres of corn and 600 acres of soybeans this year.

"We've really had a perfect season up until the first of August," said Butler. "We got in on a timely manner, and we've had a decent amount of rain. On Aug. 1, we all thought we had a monster crop coming, and it's still not bad, but this last month, especially on the later beans, it's really taken a lot of top off."

Butler says his corn crop was relatively unhindered by the drought because of the rain in the early summer. However, his beans needed rain in August to get bigger. Now, like many farmers, he is hoping for a dry fall season to help with harvest.

"A wet fall is definitely not fun to harvest in, so some rain to keep the dust down would be good," Butler said. "But we're not going to add a lot to the crops at this point. Maybe the very late beans or rain would help them, but they're all at the end of their cycle."

Ford said there is not much rain in the forecast for the next few days. Without precipitation, he predicts there will be levels of extreme drought through September.

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