Despite recent rainfall and drops in temperatures, the strength of crop yields this year for area farmers is still shaping up to be disappointing, a local agriculture official said.

Brett Bierman, county executive of the Farm Service Agency, said crops have not received nearly enough water to grow well, and high temperatures are also jeopardizing crop yields in Coles County.

According to Chris Geelhart, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Lincoln, Central Illinois rainfall totals are 12 inches below normal for the year. On top of this, the region’s average temperatures have been about 5 degrees above normal, he said.

As of July 24, the United States Department of Agriculture declared Coles County to be in an extreme drought.

The USDA also declared Coles County a natural disaster area on Aug. 1.

Bierman said farmers are facing a year so dry and hot that they will likely see large losses in their crop yields.

He said he expects Coles County corn producers will see a 50-percent loss in yield or greater if significant rainfall does not move into the area soon.

Soybean yields might fare better than corn this year, Bierman said.

Soybeans are grown later in the summer, he explained, and recent rainfall and drops in temperatures will likely give the crop a better chance to grow than corn did during the worst of the drought.

However, if temperatures begin to rise again, soybeans might still face difficulties.

Bierman explained that higher-than-normal temperatures destroy blooms on soybean plants, which prevents bean pods from developing.

“We are on the eleventh hour from (soybeans) being a complete wipeout,” Bierman said.

Average soybean yields in Coles County are 45 to 50 bushels per acre, he said, but expectations are low this year.

“If we hit 40 bushels an acre, we will be ecstatic,” he said.

Eric Coon farms 800 acres of corn and soybeans in Oakland, Ashmore and Westfield and said this year’s drought is the worst he has seen since he began farming in 1973.

“In my farming career, it’s as bad as it has ever been,” he said.

Coon said in a normal year, he expects to produce 175 to 195 bushels of corn per acre.

This year, he expects to produce 50-to-120 bushels per acre.

“That’s way below normal,” Coon said.

The reduction in corn yields in the Midwest is going to cause an overall drop in national yield rates, Coon said.

“(The USDA) was expecting us to raise 14.5 billion bushels of corn in this country, and now they are talking between 10.5 (billion) and 11 billion,” he said.

Coon’s soybean yields are also expected to be low this year, he said.

However, because soybeans are still in the middle of their growing season, it is too early to estimate how low yields will be.

As farmers face the prospect of reduced yields and reduced profits, Bierman emphasized that because Coles County is designated a natural disaster area, those farmers who experience crop losses can seek help from the federal government through low-interest loans.

However, Coon said such assistance is only a minor help to farmers who will only have to pay the loan back.

“Those (federal disaster loans) are Band-Aid-type situations for most farmers,” he said. “A loan is a loan; you are still borrowing the money.”

Coon purchased federal crop insurance for this year’s season and said about 50-60 percent of farmers in the area have done the same.

“That (insurance) alone is going to get you through this situation in fairly decent shape,” he said.

If farmers did not purchase crop insurance, he said this might be a tougher year for them.

Though farmers are facing a tough situation brought on by minimal rainfall and high temperatures, Coon said the drought is not a catastrophe for farmers.

“Yes, there is some hardship, but in another 12 months we are going to be raising another crop,” Coon said. “I’ll be OK.”

Tim Deters can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].