Heavy rains last weekend likely won’t be enough to help the area’s soybean crop reach even average levels, Douglas County Extension agent Bill Wood said Thursday.

In fact, Wood said some farmers had expressed concerns that the rains would cause them to incur an extra expense. Wood said many area farmers had planned on not harvesting the withered crop but merely collecting insurance on it.

But the rains, which totaled about 6 inches in some areas, may have been enough to cause some insurance adjusters to require farmers to harvest the crop before they can collect on their insurance policies.

“That will create some costs for them to run the combines over the fields,” Wood said.

Wood predicted average soybean yields would fall below the 22-bushel-per-acre average posted last year. In an average year, 35 bushels are harvested per acre.

Soybeans are the county’s largest crop, with about 45,000 acres planted annually.

Wood said rains should help stressed pastures and farmers as they prepare to plant wheat.