What a difference a month can make in a farmer’s attitude.

Nearly 6 inches of rain in April has not only perked up Douglas County crops but also the spirits of area farmers.

“On April 1 we were all pretty discouraged,” said Bill Wood, Douglas County agriculture extension, said. “It didn’t look like it was going to be much of a year for farming here. But today our attitudes are a lot better. To be honest, I don’t think we would want to change much with the weather today.”

According to the Topeka office of the National Weather Service, the Lawrence area through late Tuesday afternoon had received 5.76 inches of precipitation during April.

The rain wiped out the beginnings of a dry summer in the area. At the beginning of the month precipitation totals for the year were roughly 2 inches behind normal but now are only 0.57 inches below normal totals, according to information gathered by Ross Janssen, 6News weather forecaster.

Douglas County appears to have some of the best crop conditions in the state, according to Tuesday’s weekly crop weather report released by the Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service. The report shows the east-central region of the state, which includes Douglas County, has an adequate level of topsoil moisture in 87 percent of its area, the top percentage in the state.

Eddie Wells, deputy statistician for the service, said Douglas County and the eastern portion of the state is faring better than western Kansas.

“The western part of the state has been dry since last fall, so even with the rain they have gotten this month, the ground has sucked it up pretty fast,” Wells said. “But in the eastern part of the state you now seem to be off to a pretty good start. That’s important because you have to start well if you hope to finish well.”

The rain was generally good for area farmers because of the moisture it provided to recently planted corn and soon-to-be-planted soybeans.

“Young plants are kind of like baby humans,” Wood said. “They’re pretty tender at this stage, and the rain really helps them out. You’ve got to have moist soil so those seeds will sprout.”

Many farmers were saying the rains at least give their corn and soybean crops a chance to produce above average yields.

“It is kind of the first step,” said John Pendleton, a Lawrence farmer. “That rain we got can make the difference between an average crop and a good crop, and if we get some timely rains in June and July it gives us the chance to watch that good crop turn into a great crop.”

The county’s wheat crop, which is considerably smaller than its corn and soybean crops, also is faring well, Wood said. But that is not the case in western Kansas.

According to the state’s weekly crop report, the month’s rains didn’t do much to improve the wheat crop, most of which is located in western Kansas.

The report this week rated 40 percent of the wheat crop as either poor or very poor. That’s only a one percent improvement compared to the April 1 crop report.

According to the drought severity index maintained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the western two-thirds of southern Kansas and the westernmost one-third of northern Kansas are experiencing severe drought.

Not all the month’s weather was positive for Douglas County growers. Pendleton, who operates Pendleton’s Country Market, 1446 E. 1850 Road, said last week’s small hail storm damaged his business’ asparagus and flower crops.

“I guess the good thing is a lot of the asparagus crop was still underground and protected, so we’ll still be able to sell some this year,” Pendleton said. “If I were a strawberry farmer, it probably would have done me in for the season.”