Indiana farmers are listening to U.S. Department of Agriculture officials to make sure they know who they need to contact when they assess their final losses from this year's drought.

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Hancock County farmer Eric Lawyer hosted a "Barn Hall" style meeting with USDA officials and area farmers Monday to discuss the current drought situation. Lawyer raises corn, soybeans, wheat, and hogs with his wife and daughter in Hancock and Henry Counties. Lawyer says he expects to have a decent soybean crop thanks to the recent rains, but expects to lose half or more of this year's corn.

Lawyer says there isn't much that can be done since farmers are at the mercy of Mother Nature except work with officials on what programs and information are available and hope for the best in future years. Lawyer says it isn't a good year for him, but it could be a lot worse as there are other farms that didn't get as much rain as he got and can expect their losses to be greater.

USDA Risk Management Agency Administrator William Murphy visited Lawyer's farm Monday afternoon. Murphy will host another "Barn Hall" session at a grain farm in Hendricks County this morning. The visits and meetings are being coordinated through the Indiana Farm Servie Agency.