County applies for federal drought aid

Brown and yellow leaves on much of the area's corn crop reflect the plants' stress from lack of rain in the area. Chronicle photo HOLLY LUNDH

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DeKalb County residents could find out as early as Monday whether Gov. Rod Blagojevich considers northern Illinois a drought-disaster area and will seek federal assistance to help farmers. Northern Illinois has been hit the hardest in a drought that stretches throughout the state and into lower Wisconsin, said Chris Herbert, Illinois Department of Agriculture spokeswoman. All 105 Illinois counties have reported drought conditions and entered reports on their crop losses with the state, she said. Only in the worst of droughts - the last one being in 1988 - have all counties entered reports. "It's been a rough year for farmers," Herbert said. From preliminary examination of the reports, which include expected crop yields, the extent of crop losses and the amount of rain that areas have received, DeKalb County is among those suffering the most, she said. The governor's Drought Response Task Force is analyzing today which counties have the greatest losses and need federal assistance. It will give recommendations to the governor, who will review its suggestions Monday and, if necessary, write a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture requesting that Illinois be declared a disaster area, Herbert said. With such a designation, some farmers will be able to apply for low-interest loans to help them survive on lower-than-expected incomes from poor crops. Loss estimates for the county are around 15 to 30 percent of crops, said Mariam Wassmann, DeKalb County Farm Bureau information director. Farmer Roger Larson of Hinckley expects his corn yield to be between 100 and 120 bushels per acre this year and his soybeans to be around 40 bushels. The five-year average for corn is 152 bushels per acre and for soybeans is 48 bushels per acre, Wassmann said. She expects this year's yields to be more in line with those from 1988, in which the figures were 96 bushels per acre for corn and 37.5 bushels per acre for soybeans. Farmers will have a better idea about their corn yields in the next couple of weeks as the plants finish pollination and begin growing ears of corn, Larson said. The critical time for soybeans is coming up next month. "It's almost starting to get too late for corn," he said about whether rain would improve crop yields. "It's surprising they look as good as they do for the amount of rain we've received." His farm received 6/10 inch of rain Wednesday, the biggest rainfall it has had the entire growing season. He said his farm has gotten 2 1/2 inches less rain than it had by late July in 1988. "The rain the last couple of days helped, but it sure hasn't brought us out of the drought yet," Wassmann said. The already-weakened plants become more susceptible to insect attacks, Larson said, and that also affects yields. "It's bad," said Jim Jones, manager of Conserv FS, a grain elevator in Sycamore that works with farmers throughout the area and into Wisconsin. Jones said he's seen local farmers brace for low yields and put off selling grain until they know how much they'll have to sell. He said the grain elevator will be fine during the drought because it will buy more corn from areas that have been unaffected by drought to make up for low local yield. The situation for local farmers, however, will be much different, he said. Larson said this drought will hurt many farmers worse than the one in 1988 because high fuel costs have made farming more expensive. "One thing that will help is that more farmers have crop insurance than ever before," Larson said. "It doesn't pay what they'll lose in poor crops, but it will make up some of the difference. It would also help if we could get some sort of federal assistance." Renee Messacar can be reached at rmessacar@daily-chronicle.com.