Farmers face frustration over wet weather during planting season

Wet weather this spring has left farmers drowning in frustration over their inability to plant crops.

“We haven’t planted anything at all,” Cape Girardeau-area farmer Jerry Siemers said.

The clay soil has been too wet for planting corn and soybeans.

Siemers said Monday the soggy ground also has made it impossible to harvest alfalfa and cover crops for silage.

Dating back to October, this area has seen a lot of rain, he said.

Even three sunny days likely isn’t enough to dry out the fields, he said.

Gordonville-area farmer Jeff Lorberg said he has only been able to plant 37 acres of corn. He plans to plant another 250 acres of corn once he can get back in the fields.

“Essentially, it is a whole month behind schedule,” he said of planting a crop. And rain is forecast for the weekend, Lorberg added.

Lorberg said, in addition to corn, he intends to plant another 650 acres in soybeans, a crop that can be planted as late as June.

Once the weather cooperates, both Lorberg and Siemers expect to spend long days planting crops to make up for the weather delays.

“We will have to hustle to keep things going,” Lorberg said.

Anthony Ohmes, field specialist in agronomy for the University of Missouri Extension in Jackson, said a third or less of the corn has been planted in Cape Girardeau County.

But Lorberg and Siemers estimated the percentage is far lower.

In the Southeast Missouri region as a whole, Ohmes said less than 50% of the corn crop has been planted.

Corn in this region typically is planted from April through the first week of May, according to Ohmes.

While flooding along the Mississippi River and its tributaries swamped some fields, rain has been a more widespread issue for area farmers, he said.

“We have been stuck in a rainfall pattern more than anything else,” the Extension specialist said.

Ohmes said Mississippi County, from January through April, experienced the seventh-wettest season in its history and the wettest since 2011.

From January through April, the Missouri Bootheel experienced more than 25 inches of rainfall in places, according to the University of Missouri Climate Center.

“We have been stuck in a rainfall pattern,” Ohmes said.

Farmers, he said, can expect lower yields for corn unless they can plant soon.

Yields on corn planted later than mid-May typically run 30% less than normal yields in this area, Ohmes said.

Even then, a lot depends on the summer weather, he said.

“There are a lot of ifs,” he said.

Ohmes said dry weather right now could make a big difference in getting a crop in the ground.

“If this week turns out completely dry, a lot of corn can be planted in just a few days,” he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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