May 25, 2004

 

 

Heavy Weekend Rains Threaten Some U.S. Soybean Crops

 

Heavy rainfall this past weekend and more anticipated rainfall has many worried about the condition of soy crops across the U.S. corn belt.

 

Jon Taylor, meteorologist at Global Weather Services, said as much as seven inches of rain fell on eastern Nebraska, Iowa, southern Minnesota, northern Illinois and eastern Wisconsin over the weekend. This coupled with the already-saturated soil has resulted in flooding and erosion on some soy cropland.

 

Virgil Schmitt, field specialist with the Iowa State University Extension to Agriculture and Natural Resources, said his area of southeast Iowa escaped heavy rain, receiving only a few inches. However, farther north rainfall in parts of north-central Iowa received up to 10 inches, Schmitt said.

 

"The crops looked really good 'till this weekend; unfortunately, (there's) probably going to be a lot of replanting," Schmitt said.

 

Palle Pedersen, an agronomist at Iowa State University Extension, said it is still too early to tell how much crop will need to be replanted. The amount of rain the area receives Monday night and Tuesday morning will play a major factor, he said. The May 17 U.S. Department of Agriculture crop progress report said 76% of Iowa's soybean crop was planted.

 

"The good thing is when (there are) cool conditions, the crops can survive under water much longer," he said.

 

Nebraska was not hit as hard as Iowa; however, portions of southeast Nebraska did receive upwards of five inches of rain and will require some replanting, said Gary Zoubek of the University of Nebraska-York Extension Office.

 

He said the heavy rain was accompanied by a large amount of hail, which damaged some of the corn crops, requiring a possible replanting of some of the corn stalks. Nebraska had already planted 95% of its corn crop and 51% of its soy crop, the USDA said on May 17.

 

While western Wisconsin fared similar to Nebraska, the eastern portion was not so lucky. The eastern third of the state received only 5-6 inches of rain, but the ground was already quite wet.

 

"The fields are super-saturated, now the rain is just ponding," said John Gaska, outreach specialist at University of Wisconsin-Madison Agronomy Department. "I'm seeing ponding in fields I have never seen before."

 

Gaska said he is more worried about the soy crops that have not been planted yet than those that have been. The western and central two-thirds of the state have its soy crops planted, in good condition, and are not suffering from heavy flooding, Gaska said. USDA said on May 17 that Wisconsin had planted 22% of its soy crop, already seven percentage points behind the five- year average.

 

He said there had not been any adequate planting weather in the east prior to the weekend storms. This presents a problem because the soy crops need to be planted in northeast Wisconsin by June 10 due to the fall frost. Gaska said in nine to 10 days farmers already will be looking at a loss in yield, and it could be tough to plant by then even with warm drying weather, he said.

 

GWS's Taylor said eastern Nebraska, Iowa, northern Missouri, northwest Illinois, southern Minnesota and southern Wisconsin will likely continue to receive significant rainfall.

 

It will be a "pretty wet and stormy period this week throughout the corn belt," he said. "However, it does look a little drier on the extended models."