The worst drought since 1988 in the upper Midwest is threatening the livelihoods of many working farmers in this region. It has affected all of Illinois, and parts of Iowa, Missouri, eastern Texas, and Wisconsin, and has been going on for more than six months.

The drought has dried up wells, caused insect infestations, and caused destruction of corn and soybean fields. In Illinois, the worst-hit state, all but one of 102 counties have been declared disaster zones, qualifying many working farmers for emergency government loans to help them, but this will also put them deeper into debt. A government report in mid-August confirmed that corn in Illinois—the second-biggest producer after Iowa—had suffered irreversible harm, with production down 12 percent from last year’s record harvest.

“Many small farmers do not have any disaster insurance while it’s likely all bigger farmers do,” George Naylor, a working farmer from Greene County in central Iowa, told the Militant. Naylor was attending the annual 2005 Iowa Farmers Union state convention recently held in Marshalltown, Iowa.

Despite recent rainfalls, drought reached farther into the western Corn Belt. Some areas in eastern Iowa counties are running rainfall deficits of more than 12 inches since March 1.

“On top of the drought conditions, the cost of production has increased by the petroleum-based fertilizer that has gone up by 30 percent in the last two years and diesel fuel cost has increased by 30 percent in the last year,” said John Whitaker, a farmer from Van Buren County in the southeastern part of Iowa on the edge of the extreme drought area.

The low-water level caused by the drought is turning parts of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers into virtual sandbars, causing towboats and barges to run aground.

According to figures from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, sales of farm tractors fell about 16 percent in July. John Deere expects equipment production to fall 23 percent in the fourth quarter. “Farmers have gone into a nonpurchase mode,” said Rusty Spence, sales manager at the John Deere dealership in Monmouth, Illinois.

Government “experts,” however, say there’s nothing wrong. “It depends on where you sit, but from a supply and demand perspective I don’t think there’s any jeopardy out there. From a national and global perspective [the drought is] not going to have a huge impact,” said Keith Collins, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief economist.

Other parts of the country have also been hit by drought conditions. The month of August in New Jersey was the third driest August in more than a century, with last month expected to rank among the three hottest Septembers, according to the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, New Jersey.

Ed Gaventa, 44, farms about 200 acres in Logan Township in Gloucester County. His farm lost most of its 20-acre pumpkin harvest because of the heat. Gaventa would usually harvest 200 bins selling at $100 each on the wholesale market, but is ending up with seven bins, expecting to make $19,000 less than he had anticipated. “In our business, we can’t set a price,” Gaventa told the New York Times. “We’re at the mercy of what the market is going to give us.”  
 
 
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