Instead of bringing in a bountiful harvest, corn farmer Wayne Decker has been tearing up the fields around his Hutto homestead.

Decker hopes the dirt border circling his property will protect his home if the parched crops around him somehow ignite.

Crunchy cornstalks that are ubiquitous in places like Hutto are susceptible to wildfires, and pretty soon the risk could become more pronounced. Experts say the fire danger will actually increase in coming weeks as farmers begin to cull the withered plants, dropping them to the ground, thereby eliminating the rows between the stalks and creating piles of dry tinder that could easily catch fire if a spark is set off during the harvesting process.
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