HARRISBURG, Ill. — Without any additional rain, Independence Day likely will mark a time when most corn growers in southern Illinois give up on their crops.

“I’ve never seen it this dry this early in my nearly 30 years of producing,” said Saline County farmer Jim Watson. “I’ve got about 360 acres of corn this year, and it went in early, and I’ll probably take it down before the end of the month (July). It looks terrible, just terrible.”

Rated among the worst corn crops in years, growers south of Mt. Vernon likely will have no choice but to chalk up this season as a big loss. As the region sizzled in record temperatures that reached 108 on June 28, it continued to be classified in “extreme drought” condition by the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Only in the northern counties in Illinois, where rain levels have left sufficient soil moisture for corn to develop normally, are growers seeing crops rated mostly good or excellent.

Through the last week of June, a total of 37 percent of the entire state’s corn crop was rated either good or excellent, according to the Illinois Agricultural Statistics Service. It dropped a total of 15 percentage points in the last week because of the drought.

Iowa rates the best among Midwest growing states, with 68 percent of the corn rated good or excellent.

University of Illinois crop sciences professor Emerson Nafziger pointed to the positive of crops in the northern part of the state, but noted conditions worsen as one moves south.

“The 2012 corn crop is well-rooted, healthy and tough, but it’s unrealistic to expect it to continue to thrive as the soil water supply continues to decline in dry areas,” he said.

He explained many corn plants are measuring 5-6 feet at tasseling, several feet shorter than normal. Some of the fields in the driest areas have tried to pollinate while the plants were still short. Those fields likely will have low or no yields, he conceded.

For Watson, he held out a small measure of hope that rain would hit the region by July 4. “But I’m not banking on it. All of the forecasts call for it to stay as dry as it has been all season,” he said.