Every day Siouxland goes without rain seems like an eternity for so many.
That's even truer for farmers, who have been hoping to salvage some of their crops. Western Iowa Congressman Steve King saw the impact the drought's having firsthand Saturday.
The drought's been on everyone's minds for a while, even those on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers are trying to pass a new farm bill.
Craig Utesch's farm has been in the family for three generations. He's never seen it look this dry.
"When you see it literally turning white before your eyes, it just does something to your psyche that says, 'We're going to lose it all,'" said Utesch.
As Congressman Steve King and Utesch walk through his corn field, they emerge with corn drastically shorter than usual.
"There's probably a little better corn than this, and there's probably a little worse than this," said King. "But it tells you what the drought has done, it's cut down on the feed supply."
"I'd say the corn is done," said Utesch.
The Utesches started silaging their field into food for their cattle about a month earlier than usual this year. They've already converted about 50 acres, and they expect to do another 200-300 more before the year is over.
With the damage done, Utesch looks ahead to the long-term problems that could result from this summer's drought.
"It's going to take substantial rains to get that subsoil moisture back for even next year," said Utesch.
King agrees. It's one reason he says he's pushing to get a long-term farm bill through Congress. His opponents want to move year by year, but King believes farmers need more certainty.
"We need to give predictability a five year policy, even if it's something we don't agree with, it's better than no policy whatsoever," said King.
King says the weather has forced many farmers to begin selling off their cattle earlier than they'd like to. The current version of the bill sets up crop insurance for farmers, who've experienced minor losses, and even those with substantial losses from the drought. King says the size of the Utesches' farm has helped keep the family afloat. Smaller operations may not be so lucky.
"The balance that they have here helps insulate them from the drought. That's not the case of a lot of operations that I know of," said King.
King says he hopes the farm bill gets some traction again when Congress resumes its session in September.
The House of Representative passed an emergency measure right before starting recess Friday, but the Senate says they won't look at things until a bigger bill is brought before them next month.
The House bill would have provided farmers with nearly $400 billion worth of emergency assistance nationwide.
The Senate's version would have been for substantially less annually, but would have gone through 2022.
