March 31, 2008

 

Persistent rains may delay US corn planting

 

 

Farmers in the US corn belt may not be able to do much planting for the next two weeks due to a combination of rain and cool temperatures, meteorologists said Friday (March 31, 2008).

 

Heavy rains are expected in the corn belt and northern Delta from Sunday until Tuesday, said Drew Lerner, president of World Weather Inc. One to 3 inches of precipitation should fall from northern Arkansas to Michigan and in Ohio, he said.

 

Conditions will then remain cool, which will prevent the ground from drying, Lerner said.

 

"The rains obviously will keep the grounds totally saturated everywhere," he said. "We'll get all the way to mid-April probably without a lot of field work being accomplished."

 

Wet weather in the region is becoming "very worrisome to both producers and end users of corn" because growers may switch their acres to soy from corn if they cannot get in the fields, DTN Meteorlogix said in a forecast. Some growers prefer to plant their corn early in hopes that they will avoid damage from scorching summer heat.

 

Recent precipitation in the Corn Belt caused flooding in some fields, meteorologists said. The upcoming storms will probably leave them standing in water again, although new areas are not expected to flood, Lerner said.

 

"Whatever floodwaters have receded in the last few days are probably going to come right back again," he said. "Most of the Midwest proper is not likely to see any greater flooding than they had previously."

 

The heaviest rain, including local totals of more than 3 inches, will likely fall south of a line extending from Kansas City to Chicago, said John Dee, president of Global Weather Monitoring. More moisture will likely follow as early as Thursday night or Friday in parts of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, he said.

 

It's unlikely that most areas will dry up enough in between the storms to allow farmers into their fields, Dee said.

 

"It's only bad news" for corn growers, Dee said. "There's no good news. Right now we're in a pattern that's been producing average to below-average temperatures. I see that persisting."