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Close to half the corn crop in Wisconsin and other corn-producing states is in poor to very poor condition, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday, as one of the nation's worst-ever droughts continues to turn the growing season into a nightmare for many.

In Wisconsin, 43% of the corn crop is in very poor to poor condition, the report said. About a third of the state's corn - 31% - is considered to be in good or excellent condition by the USDA, and 26% of the state's corn crop is in fair condition.

"Ugly" is how Greg Goeller described his 550 acres of corn. He grows crops on about 1,400 acres in Washington and Dodge counties.

"I'm 52, and this is as bad as I've ever seen," Goeller said. The farm has been in his family since 1879.

"My father remembers the 1930s, and he's comparing it to that," Goeller said.

The drought prompted Gov. Scott Walker on Monday to open 11,500 acres of state-owned land to farmers so they can harvest hay for livestock. Some state-owned land will be opened to cattle grazing as well, the governor's office said.

"The drought is causing a real hardship for farmers, particularly in the southern part of the state who don't have enough feed for their animals," Walker said in a statement.

Across the nation's major corn-producing region, the numbers are slightly worse than Wisconsin.

The USDA crop progress report says 45% of the corn in the 18 states that had the most corn acreage planted last year is in very poor to poor condition.

The Monday numbers were a bit higher than market watchers were anticipating, said Linda Smith, a vice president at Brock Associates, an agricultural commodity advisory firm in Milwaukee.

"What's even more worrisome to the market, I think, is what happened in key states," Smith said. "Illinois went from 56% to 66% poor to very poor. Iowa was only 27% poor to very poor (in last week's report), but now it's at 40%."

Rain and cooler weather in the forecast may be too late for the corn crop in some areas, Smith said.

"When you've got these 80-degree nights and burning hot days and no water, there's not going to be an improvement in corn in those states where it is so far along," she said.

In some areas, corn has simply failed to develop.

"We're hearing anecdotal stories from a lot of our clients who go out in the fields and they peel back an ear and there might be one or two kernels in there," Smith said.

"That's really worrisome."

With soybeans, it's pretty much the same story, Smith said.

"Soybeans, we're kind of at the tipping point," she said. With some timely rain and decent temperatures, that crop may produce decent yields.

In Wisconsin, 33% of the soybean crop is considered to be in poor to very poor condition while 35% is rated good to excellent.

In the 18 largest soybean producing states, 31% of the crop is considered to be in good to excellent condition while 35% is considered to be in poor to very poor condition.

Across Wisconsin, the crop conditions vary from north to south, said Michael Laird, research analyst at the National Agricultural Statistics Service office in Madison. "It's still pretty dry everywhere," he said, "but the southern third is definitely hurting the most."

Some of the notes included in the Wisconsin Crop Progress report reflect the varying conditions in the state.

"Overall crops continue to look good," an observer in Barron County in northwest Wisconsin wrote.

Compare that with an observer from Racine County: "Corn still hanging on in spots, but some areas completely gone."

Meanwhile Monday, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack pushed for Congress to act on a farm bill that would reinstate expired disaster-assistance programs for farmers experiencing the worst drought in decades.

Programs authorized in the 2008 farm bill have expired and won't be renewed unless the House approves a bill passed by the Senate.

Vilsack pushed the House to consider the bill, which has passed out of its agriculture committee, before its August vacation.

The Associated Press contributed to this report