Drought forcing early crop insurance claims

Crop insurance is like any other insurance — farmers carry it hoping they won’t need it. But some farmers already know they will be forced to make claims on the 2012 crop because of extreme drought in parts of the Midwest. The southeastern part of the Illinois is much drier than the northern part, but much of the rest of the state is catching up when it comes to a lack of moisture. “There’s a large number of acres that have really been devastated,” said Steve Worthington, crop claims field supervisor with Country Financial. “The further north you go, the less you see it visually, but as it happens, right now is a critical period for corn, especially.”