By Staci DaSilva
sdasilva@kcautv.com
Farmer Scott Olson of Tekamah, Nebraska calls it "weird." His farm is currently yielding anywhere from zero bushels of corn per acre to 313 bushels.
Scott Olson said, "It's just kind of a crazy year. You don't know what Mother Nature did or where that moisture came from, it's just a strange deal."
That's because as Olson combines his fields, he's noticing an interesting pattern.
Where healthy stalks stand ready to be harvested, just feet away is down corn that fell victim to the summer's drought.
So in order to still harvest them, Olson spent $3,000 on corn reels, equipment tacked on to the combine to pick the down corn off the ground.
And all this damage is with an irrigation system.
"We just could not get enough water on this to keep it growing like it should have," said Olson.
And it's not just corn.
Just down the road is Hennig Hollow Farms. Farmer Phil Hennig is just beginning to collect his soybeans.
And he's having the same problem.
Hennig said, "We've got hill ground in spots, where the ground is really poor, basically zero. You'll drop into another spot where you'll have decent or normal yields. It varies a lot."
Olson and Hennig say there are two glimmers of hope when it comes to the financial loss they may face: crop insurance and high market prices for corn and beans.
