Indiana farmers losing many crops

Indiana (WLFI) - The drought, combined with last week's heat, has made things difficult for Indiana farmers.

Many farmers in the northern part of the state say they have already lost at least half their crops.

Purdue Researchers said the drought is hitting corn crops at the worst time, when the corn is starting to pollinate and develop kernels on the cob.

Chad Zahner, a farmer near South Bend, agreed with researchers.

“A lot of times what you get instead of a uniform row like you get when you buy sweet corn, at the store, what you'll see is real blotchy tips here, the ears won't have corn on them, there may be corn on the bottom, or you might just get a cob. They may not pollinate at all, we don't know,” said Zahner.

Some farmers say they are trying to combat the problems by irrigating their seed corn.

Some put about 1,200 gallons of water on their corn every minute, or about an inch of water a week.