Something missing here: Across a wide stretch of Midwestern
farms, sweltering temperatures and a dearth of rain are
threatening what was expected to be the nation’s largest corn
crop in generations. Already, some farmers in Illinois and
Missouri have given up on parched and stunted fields, mowing
them over. National specialists say parts of five corn-growing
states, including Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, are experiencing
severe or extreme drought conditions. And in at least nine
states, conditions in one-fifth to one-half of cornfields have
been deemed poor or very poor, federal authorities reported this
week, a notable shift from the high expectations just a month
before. Crop insurance agents and agricultural economists are
watching closely, a few comparing the situation with a
devastating drought of 1988, when corn yields shriveled
significantly, while some farmers have begun alluding,
unhappily, to the dust bowl of the 1930s. Far more is at stake
in the coming pivotal days: With the brief, delicate phase