COLUMBUS, Ohio — High heat levels across the Midwest threaten the quality of this year's harvest.

What You Need To Know

  • Famers throughout the Midwest have dealt with drought this summer   

  • Long stretches of drought can have a negative effect on crop health

  • Despite some stretches of heat, Ohio farmers haven't dealt with the same level of stress as farmers in the West

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, "hot, dry weather encompassed large sections of the Plains and Midwest, favoring fieldwork and hastening summer crop maturation. The late-season heat also stressed rangeland and pastures, especially in drier sections of the Plains and western Corn Belt."

Andy Vance, Spectrum News agriculture expert, said heat is a good thing.

“Rain makes grain," he said. "Hot, humid weather is usually good, but once you reach a certain point, when the temperature gets too high and it's too late in the growing season, then it becomes counterproductive. You could get to a point where you're actually doing more harm than good."

So while Ohio farmers dealt with a stretch of heat, Vance said Ohio farmers were "probably okay".

“Yeah, I think right now Ohio farmers are probably okay, but we're right on that cusp," he said. "You think about [how] it's been pretty hot here the last week or so for us. I think it's going to tail off a little bit, and we're to start to get more seasonable weather into harvest and then we'll breathe a sigh of relief and get [crops] in the barn."

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