Looking at 2013 crop outlook

MEROM, Ind. (WTHI) - Low crops, wilted stalks, and very little seed corn.

In an industry where the weather is one the most determining factors of your success, this year, farmers are counting their losses and moving on.

"There's going to be little to nothing. I mean it's...we've got fields that won't make nothing.  We've got fields that will make 50 bushels.  We may have some that make 100, I hope," Farmer David Phegley said.

Phegley owns over 1,500 acres, and he custom farms about 250 of those.

He's lost 50 to 70 percent of those crops.

Early predictions show it'll take four or five years to get crops back to where they need to be.

"This is something that just doesn't go away over night, I mean for some guys, it's going to take longer, and for some guys it won't take as long but we'll feel the effects of this year for a long time," Phegley said.

Phegley said ideally, we need to get one inch of rain per week to restore the water table and a minimum of 15 inches by next spring.

In the meantime, living on what farmers made this year will be tight.

"Everybody's going to have to tighten their belt and sharpen their pencil for the next couple of years, that's my feeling," he said.

However, most will survive.

"We'll always remember the year of 2012, but in a lot of ways, we'll want to forget it too," Phegley said.

Next year around this time, they hope weather patterns have changed and crops will be plenty.

Some fields have already been mowed down because there just aren't any crops that survived.

Phegley will begin harvesting next week.

Next year's planting season starts in April.