(NAFB.com) – The U.S. Drought Monitor says the amount of land facing drought eased a little in the western Corn Belt but was largely unchanged in the Midwest.

In a six-state region, including Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota, approximately 51 percent of the land suffered under drought conditions. That’s down from 53 percent during the previous week and 72 percent only three months ago. In the eastern part of the Midwest, including Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky, about 14.5 percent of the area was in drought. That’s down slightly from 15 percent the prior week but up from less than one percent three months ago.

Iowa, the nation’s biggest corn producer, has 39 percent of its land in a drought, up 6.9 percent from May. Illinois, the second-largest producer of corn and soybeans, only has five percent of its area in a drought.