Record rainfall dampens local crops

When Bob Biehl surveys his 1,800 acres of corn and soybeans, he cringes.

“It’s just been frustrating,” said the Belleville area farmer.

In an ironic twist, farmers often complain this time of year about drought and not having enough rain, but this year, it’s too much rain that has hurt the crops.

The excess rainfall that drenched local farmland over the past two months has oversaturated the soil and drastically shortened the planting season. Instead of being a deep green and uniform height, Some of the corn look lime green and dwarfed.

“Since the first of May, it’s been limited activity in the field,” Biehl said. “There has to be two or three days without rain, but if you don’t get the work done in two to two and three days, sometimes you have to redo what you already did.”

St. Clair County and Madison County Farm Bureau Manager Tom Jett has been surveying the region’s crops and was stunned by a recent photograph he saw of a tractor trudging through a flooded Illinois farm field.

“It looked like it was in the middle of a lake,” Jett said. “It’s just been a mess.”

The reoccurring rainfall has stunted some corn crops across the rural areas as stalks vary from field to field, which have been growing at varying heights. Some have reached several feet while others are still diminutive and sprouting.

Biehl suspects the inconsistency stems from farmers who were forced to plant later than usual and some who had to replant more than once.

“It’s looking rough,” he said. “It’s uneven. It’s yellow in some spots. It depends when you had it planted. The corn kind of looks average, at best. There are a lot of wet spots. There are a lot of people who had to replant acres of corn and some even replanted a third time.”

Jett said that “a lot of guys are frustrated because they have not had time to get the planting done that they wanted to get done.”

The Illinois State Water Survey recorded 9.5 inches of rainfall in the region for the month of June, which is more than twice the average amount. In June 2014, the state water survey recorded 6.7 inches, which was the ninth wettest on record. By comparison, during the historic drought of 2012, only 1.7 inches of rain fell across Illinois.

Service climatologist Bryan Peake said July may end up being nearly as wet. So far this month, about 3 inches of rainfall have fallen, which is on pace to be twice as much as normal for July.

“It’s still wet and it might still continue to be wet until the end of the month,” said Peake. “The pattern hasn’t changed much.”

Illinois Farm Bureau spokesman John Hawkins expects a drop in yields this year compared with last year, when many farmers set a record harvest due to ideal growing conditions.

“Compared to last year, I think it’s a foregone conclusion that we will have lower yields than last year, statewide,” Hawkins said. “We had high yields and everything was perfect last year. We broke records by a long shot last year throughout the state. This year, I would say we’ll probably be closer to a long-term average. It’s too early to tell.”

Aside from corn and soybeans, Hawkins also said the state’s winter wheat has suffered more than any other crop. He said some farmers have written their crop off. Winter wheat usually is harvested in June, just when all the heavy rain hit.

“The excess rain has just degraded the quality of the crop,” he said. “Many farmers are getting price discounts on virtually everything. They may have a yield, but the quality of the crop is very poor.”

According to the USDA, the state’s wheat harvest is 69 percent completed at this point, below the 80 percent average for this time of years. Todd Ballard, USDA deputy director for the Heartland Region in St. Louis, said the latest numbers reveal that 66 percent of corn crop in the West Southwest District, which includes Madison County, has reached the silking stage, which indicates signs of cob pollination and potential growth. At this time last year, 80 percent of corn had reached silking.

Further south, in the Southwest District, St. Clair County and adjacent counties have recorded 61 percent corn crops at silking stage, down from the 84 percent of crops that had reached that stage a year ago.

“Compared to last year, we’re quite a bit lower,” Ballard said. “I think a lot of this depends on the planting date, if they were planted on time or if it sat in water. We have had flooding and water standing in fields because areas like that are where you have a lot of corn at different various heights.”

Although record rainfall has inhibited planting, Ballard said Illinois farmers could still yield a decent crop this year, unlike farmers across the river, who have suffered more from flooding in the region.

“For the most part, Illinois is in pretty good shape, as far as getting things planted, they are just a little behind,” he said. “Missouri is a different story. Missouri is way behind.”

Back on his rural Belleville farm, Biehl said he still has about 350 acres to plant and hopes the recent dry spell will give him the time to do it.

“Time is running out, from a calendar standpoint,” he said. “By about the 20th of July, or around then, it’s too late.”

“It might be too late now.”

This story was originally published July 17, 2015 at 10:31 AM with the headline "Record rainfall dampens local crops."