Douglas County farmers have completed about one-third of their soybean harvest, and it is being characterized as well below average by area agriculture experts.

Douglas County extension agent Bill Wood estimated the county’s soybean crop may average only 15 bushels an acre compared with usual yields of about 35 bushels per acre.

“I’ve heard yields of anywhere from three bushels an acre up to 30, but most of them are under 20,” Wood said.

Combine those numbers with a corn harvest that produced yields about half of the county’s average harvests, and farmers are facing one of their worst in years.

“I’ve been doing this a long time and this is one of the poorest harvests I’ve ever seen,” said Mark Domann, branch manager for Ottawa Co-op’s three Douglas County elevators. “Rain makes grain, and we just didn’t have near enough of it.”

In September, the Douglas County area received only 0.93 inches of rain compared with an average rainfall of 4.5 inches for the month, according to numbers compiled by 6News forecaster Ross Janssen. For the year, the area had received 20.65 inches compared with the average 32.01 inches.

Jim Carpenter, owner of Eudora Feed and Grain, said the poor harvests likely will put a financial strain on many farmers.

“I’d say the farmers have lost about 50 to 60 percent of their normal income because the harvests have been so poor,” Carpenter said. “I don’t think they’ll all go broke, but I think a lot of them will get pretty badly bent.”

A farmer harvests soybeans just north of Lawrence. Area agriculture experts are calling this year's harvest well below average due to the dry conditions.

There is no federal disaster program available for grain farmers. But Johnathon Alley, Douglas County director for the Farm Service Agency, said Congress may approve a temporary program to help drought stricken areas.

Wood said the availability of federal disaster funds would help cut losses for area farmers, but probably would not help push them into profitability.

“Even with the disaster aid, the best they might be able to do is cover their costs, but not retire any debt or pay themselves much of anything,” Wood said. “But some federal money could be a little bit of gravy on the toast.”

Wood said the poor harvest also had taken a toll on many farmers’ attitudes.

“Most of the time farmers look forward to harvest because that’s their paycheck for all the hard work they’ve done all year,” Wood said. “But I had one farmer tell me it just wasn’t any fun this year. You don’t jump out of bed and look forward to working all day to get one truckload of grain.”

Wood and others said they expect the harvest to be completed by mid-to-late October if the weather remains dry.