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TAYLORVILLE, Illinois — The worst drought conditions in a generation are sending some U.S. farmers into their fields early to harvest corn. In the Midwest state of Illinois the poor condition of the corn is cutting into farmers' profits and is driving global prices higher.
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"This stuff is depressing here. This is hard to look at for me," he said. Most of the ears of corn that managed to grow in his fields are much smaller than normal because of the drought. Smaller corn means less to sell, which cuts into Nation's bottom line.
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Nation was also up against the risk that comes with planting and growing when the cost for seed and fertilizer are at all time highs. "You are at the mercy of Mother Nature. Some people ask me why I do not gamble. Why, I gamble every day," he said. "That is just the way it is when you farm."
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"I watch them every day," Nation said. "I have a consultant who helps me on my marketing, he watches it every hour." Commodity traders on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade are also keeping close watch over the rapidly changing prices, including GrainAnalyst.com's Matthew Pierce.
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Pierce says the outlook for both corn and soybeans gets worse by the day, and has global implications.
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"We are at all time highs on both corn and soybeans, and that hurts everything over the long, long haul," Pierce continued. "Everybody is going to feel this effect."
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But despite all he faces, Bruce Nation will not call this year's drought a disaster. "I would not say a disaster. I would say a setback," he said. "It is going to set every body back a little bit. But the farmer has a heck of a human spirit to him, and he is going to go right on plugging. And that is all you can do, keep swinging."