Bowling Green Daily News

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Western Kentucky farmer Scott Omer worries that as temperatures rise amid a record-setting heat wave, his soybean yields are going down.

Triple-digit temperatures baking much of Kentucky this week coincided with a crucial development time for Omer's soybean crop in Union County.

"The longer this goes on, the more it's going to keep cutting" yields, Omer said Wednesday by phone while taking a break from cutting a hay field also stunted by the weather.

Omer predicted that the latest blast of hot, dry weather would cut soybean yields by 15 percent, and "if this keeps on for another week, you can add another 10 percent on to it."

Scorching temperatures reaching 100 degrees or higher were expected Wednesday for a second straight day across the western two-thirds of Kentucky, the National Weather Service said.

"The heat is hurting us as bad as the lack of moisture," Omer said.

For Kentucky farmers, it's another round of extreme weather during a difficult growing season that started with an early April freeze that inflicted considerable crop damage.

Farmers weren't the only ones suffering from the heat wave. Officials in numerous counties opened "cool centers" as sanctuaries for people without air conditioning.

In south-central Kentucky, the Green River Ferry at Mammoth Cave National Park was closed due to low water levels, according to park officials. They said the Houchins Ferry operated Wednesday at the park, but both ferries will then be shut down until river levels rise.

It's not unusual to close ferry service for a stretch of August, but dry weather earlier in the year also forced officials to shut them down for a time in June, said park spokeswoman Vickie Carson. The park is about 10 inches below average rainfall for the year, she said.

Livestock producers across Kentucky were vigilant to provide enough water for thirsty cattle, which tend to put on little or no weight amid such stifling conditions.

And some grain farmers watched their crops suffer from the extreme heat, which comes on the heels of long-term dry conditions across Kentucky.

Western and eastern Kentucky are in severe drought, while central and bluegrass sections are in moderate drought, according to the latest Palmer Drought Index.

And there might not be much relief in sight. University of Kentucky extension agricultural meteorologist Tom Priddy said weather models for Kentucky indicate above-normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation through much of August.

Bill Clift, who farms in Caldwell, Lyon and Crittenden counties, said his double-crop soybeans planted after the wheat harvest will "make nothing" without a rain soon.

"They won't even get a combine put in them," he said.

Clift worries that the heat also will cut into yields for his nearly mature corn crop.

A statewide crop-reporting service said this week that 60 percent of the state's soybeans were setting pods, and that the crop needed more rain during the important development stage.

Thirty-six percent of the statewide soybean crop was in fair, poor or very poor condition as of last Sunday, according to a report issued Monday by the National Agricultural Statistics Service's Kentucky field office. Another 49 percent of the crop was in good condition and 15 percent was excellent, the report said.

Meanwhile, 64 percent of Kentucky's corn crop was rated good or excellent in the latest report. Another 21 percent was considered fair and 15 percent either poor or very poor.

The state's tobacco crop, which can thrive in hot weather, was rated 44 percent good, 25 percent fair, 14 percent excellent, 12 percent poor and 5 percent very poor.

In Daviess County, agricultural extension agent Clint Hardy said the corn crop generally is far enough advanced to be "relatively safe" from sizable yield losses from the heat. He predicted corn yields will be close to the county's usual average of about 148 bushels an acre, thanks to some timely rains earlier in the season.

Hardy said the biggest concern from the extreme heat is for the soybean crop.

"Soybeans are at the point right now when they should be gaining yield, but these temperatures are keeping them from doing that," he said.

Kentucky farmers planted an estimated 1.42 million acres of corn this spring, up 300,000 acres from last year's crop, according to the NASS' Kentucky office. Soybean planting was estimated at 1.15 million acres, down 230,000 acres from last year. That would make this year's crop the smallest soybean acreage since 1994, the report said.

Hay fields and pastures also continue to suffer from the dry summer.

In Caldwell County in western Kentucky, hay and pasture conditions are in "dire straights," said ag extension agent Shane Bogle.

Omer said that unless his fields get some rain soon, he's only a few days from having to dip into smaller-than-usual hay supplies to feed his cattle. He normally doesn't start feeding hay to his livestock until late November or December.