OTTUMWA, IOWA -- The severe drought that has affected much of the country for months continues to affect heartland farmers.

The drought has negatively impacted much of the corn crop and farmers are seeing a significant decrease in yield than in average years. The lack of rain also means farmers are harvesting earlier than they ever have.

"We are about 25% done and I think the earliest I ever started before was September first," said Clark Yeager, a farmer in Wapello County. "So it's probably two weeks early, at least, for us."

Yeager said he expects to be completely done with this year's corn harvest by October 1st, which is, again, the earliest he has ever seen it.

Yeager also said the sporadic rain Iowa has gotten over the last few weeks will not impact or benefit the corn crop at all, as it is "too little too late".