The farming situation in East Otter Tail County isn't in a desperate state yet. But without rain soon many farmers are likely to see huge losses in this year's crops.
The growing period for corn and other crops need rain, and need rain very soon, in the midst of an extremely dry July.
"I've never seen it this bad," said Loren Koehler, who has been farming northeast of New York Mills since 1982.
Driving around some of the 400 acres Loren farms with his dad, Norm, much of the corn is in bad shape. Although, some corn fields look like they've held up pretty good so far rain is definitely critical. The barley, oats and wheat seem to be doing better than most of the corn but rain soon is a must.
A quick survey of the crops, certain fields are bearing the dry spell better, but Loren realizes a lot of his corn is probably already beyond recovery.
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How quickly things can turn.
"At the end of June I thought it was going to be the best crop we ever had," Loren said.
He commented last week rain was critical then and it's even more so now, even with the light rain which came early Wednesday morning.
John Eisenlohr also farms north of Mills on the west side of Highway 67. He's got some corn that is doing alright and said the German oats he planted for the first time this year are holding up well under the poor growing conditions. Eisenlohr said he had a good first crop of hay, which averaged about five round bales per acre, but the fields need rain and he likely won't see a third cut this year. As far as his crops go, so far it's not a desperate situation yet. A couple good rains would put most farmers at ease.
"Hope and pray... that's about all a guy can do," Eisenlohr said.
