EXCELSIOR SPRINGS, MO (KCTV) -
It is the hot dry weather that is putting a strain on local farmers, and they say they are nearing a crisis that could impact everyone.
Most farmers in the metro can't afford irrigation systems. Close to 90 percent of them rely on rain to keep their crops growing. Cornfields are underdeveloped already, and signs of stress are showing.
Darrell Aldrich said the last time dry, hot weather ruined his crops was in 1988.
"You kind of forget what it was like then until they bring it back," said Darrell Aldrich, owner of Aldrich Farms in Excelsior Springs.
And Aldrich will tell anyone, it is back. He can already see this year's early waterless heat affecting his 1,600 acres of crops in Excelsior Springs.
"It looks pretty bleak whenever he gives the seven-day and everyday it is in the 90s ... it really don't make a difference 95-105, it is hot," he said.
Aldrich invested in cattle more than 20 years ago after having to dip into his crop insurance from the last memorable drought. But this year, even his financial 'Plan B' is drying up fast.
"Crops worry me, but the cattle worry me more than anything," he said. "What do you do for them? You've got to have water, and you got to have feed."
Aldrich says he is having to feed hay five months earlier to his cattle because the grass has stopped growing and water levels in his ponds are dropping.
"They are under stress. They need rain. It is going to be timely rains, and right now we need one," he said.
Farmers often diversify their farms with crops and cattle to offset profit loss from one or the other, but even with his herd, his financial 'Plan B' is drying up fast.
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