Word: cropped
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...What makes country hot at the moment is something that can't be graphed or computed. But it can be heard, sometimes on radio stations that play rock or even -- shudder -- easy listening. There is a bumper crop of new talent around, making personal, adventurous, uncompromised music for a wider audience that is not bound by country's strict conventions. It could be that things haven't been so fertile since the '50s, with the coming of Johnny Cash and the brash flush of rockabilly. For sure, the pickings haven't been so rich since Waylon and Willie and Merle...
Farmer Charles Phelps knows he is lucky. His corn crop was days away from disaster when a pair of isolated rainstorms came breezing through Hastings, Iowa, dumping a bit more than 6 in. of rain on his parched fields. "Now it looks like we might have a crop after all," says Phelps. Some 360 miles to the east, Herb Steffen of Cropsey, Ill., laments that he has not seen enough rain "to settle the dust," much less nurse his corn crop though its critical pollination period. "It's heartbreaking to watch crops die in the field," says Steffen's wife...
...Farmbelt last week. While a few fortunate areas were blessed with rain and even an occasional thunderstorm, most of the nation found little relief from the drought that began in the spring. Just how much damage the prolonged dry spell has already caused was the subject of a preliminary crop forecast issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA estimated that U.S. grain production in 1988 may be only 212 million metric tons, down 24% from 1987. The corn crop is particularly hard hit -- 26% smaller than last year. The USDA pegged soybean production at 1.65 billion bu., down...
Though discouraging enough, the USDA report may understate the problem. "The commercial surveys will doubtless be bolder, and lower, than those of USDA," says Conrad Leslie, one of the nation's leading private crop forecasters. Leslie predicts a corn crop of 4.4 billion bu., 800 million bu. less than the USDA estimate. A survey by the National Corn Growers Association is even more pessimistic, predicting that this year's corn yields will be down as much as 42% from last year's. The USDA estimates assume normal weather for the rest of the growing season, even though most long-range...
That will be little consolation for the farmers whose crops have been wiped out. Responding to their plight, Washington is rushing to pour money where too little water has fallen. A pair of drought-relief bills designed to distribute at least $7 billion is moving through Congress. Farmers who lose more than 35% of their normal crop would be reimbursed for 65% of their lost revenues. A ceiling of $100,000 would be put on the disaster benefits so that large corporate farms would not benefit disproportionately from the legislation. Drought relief has the full support of President Reagan...