FARMERS ANXIOUS TO HARVEST WHEAT

Southeast Missouri farmers are keeping tuned to the weather this week.

With some areas having received up to 6 inches of rain the past week, farmers across the region are waiting to get into their fields to harvest 300,000 acres of wheat and prepare those fields for plantings of soybeans.

Wet soil conditions the past two months have made it difficult for Missouri crop farmers. Precipitation over the state averaged above normal during the first five months of the year, but farmers managed to work between the rains to get seeds in the ground.

Going into June, planting was virtually completed in the southeast and southwest parts of the state. That is better than some northern areas of Missouri where corn planting is about 88 percent complete and soybeans less than that.

More rain has raised concerns in Southeast Missouri. Scattered showers have hit the region almost half of the days this month, and more rain is in the forecast through Saturday, the National Weather Service said.

All of the rain translates into some late plantings for double-crop soybeans, said Hubert Hamer, statistician for the Missouri Agricultural Statistics Service.

Only 9 percent of the wheat in Southeast Missouri has been harvested.

"The wheat is ready," said Hamer. "One hundred percent of the crop has turned color in the Southeast sector, well above the 1997 crop year."

A year ago at this time only 75 percent of the wheat was ready to be harvested.

Farmers are eager to get their harvesters in the field and prepare the soil for late soybeans.

More than 50 percent of Missouri's wheat acreage will be planted in soybeans, said Dave Emslie, a crop statistician with the state. "In the Bootheel that percentage may be much higher."

More than 300,000 of the state's 1.2 million acres of wheat are in the Bootheel. Over 1 million acres of soybeans are raised in Southeast Missouri area, topping all other areas of the state.

The four top soybean-producing counties are Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot and Stoddard, in that order. Stoddard, New Madrid and Pemiscot are the top three wheat-producing counties in the state.

"With just a few days of sunshine, farmers around here can get back in the fields," said Pat Turman, an agronomy specialist with New Madrid County extension. "The soils dry quickly here."

Farmers need to get their double-crop soybeans in the ground by early July, said Turman. "But at this point the earlier the better."

Most crops are looking good around the area, said Turman.

"Everything is planted except the double-crop beans," she said. "The single-crop soybeans and corn are up and looking good, and the recent warm spell we had was great for cotton."

This year looks good for Missouri farmers. For the most part, farmers had a below-average year in 1997, said Mike Post, community bank president for Union Planters Bank at Sikeston.

Farmers got off to a late start in 1997 due to the weather, said Post. The wheat crop and crop prices were down, but overall most farmers fared OK.

Union Planters is a large agricultural lender throughout Southeast Missouri.

Today's farmers roll with the punches, said Post. "They have the equipment and variety of crops to get the job done."

Farmers in Missouri have increased crop acreages this year: The totals:

-- Soybean acreage is at about 5 million, up 2 percent from 1997 and 20 percent over 1996.

-- Corn acreage of about 3 million acres is up 2 percent over last year.

-- Cotton acreage is up more than 10 percent from last year, at about 420,000 acres. All of it is in seven Southeast Missouri counties.

-- Rice acreage is up about 14 percent, to 130,000 acres. Most of the rice is in Southeast Missouri.

-- Grain sorghum acreage is down 10 percent to about 400,000 acres, and oat acreage is projected at 40,000 acres, about the same as a year ago.