Gomers -- What's going wrong

WILTING: One of the hottest summers on record, combined with dry conditions in many areas, wilted the latest corn yield predictions and pushed last week's cash prices to levels more than 70 percent higher than a year ago in Iowa and Illinois. In Iowa and Illinois, the average overnight temperatures during July were up to 6 degrees above normal, and the lack of relief damaged many plants during the stage when kernels are formed. If the production predictions hold up, there will be ripples in the ethanol fuel and food markets that consumers won't welcome. Farmers with severely damaged crops lose, too.

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OUR POOR TREES: Like a row of Dominoes, many of Iowa's tree varieties are increasingly threatened or already are being thinned out by invading pests and diseases over the past couple of decades - Dutch elm disease, chestnut blight, oak wilt and, likely coming soon to a forest near you, emerald ash borer. Add the butternut canker (a fungus) to the list. A recent statewide survey found that Iowa has lost at least 90 percent of its butternut trees since 1990. At Indian Creek Nature Center, the population is also way down, from 100 to 25.

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