Flooded fields a worry as harvest approaches

Farmers ready for rain to go away

Kansas corn growers have been expecting a record-setting crop this year, thanks to abundant rainfall.

But too much of a good thing can be bad. And after the past week’s torrential downpours, hail and windstorms, northeast Kansas farmers ready for harvest are keeping a wary eye on the sky — and their flooded fields of near-ripe corn.

“We are at the point where we would like to see some sun and dry weather, but the rain sure has been our friend this year,” said Pat Ross, 1616 N. 1700 Road, who has about 1,500 acres of corn northeast of Lawrence.

Bill Wood, K-State Research and Extension agricultural agent for Douglas County, put it this way: “You hate to say for it to quit raining, but we could go three weeks without rain now and not complain.”

In Douglas County, a lot is at stake: Corn and soybeans are the biggest cash crops for Douglas County farmers, who plant about 45,000 acres of soybeans and 25,000 acres of corn. Surrounding counties have similar crop pictures.

But the past few years have been brutal for corn growers across the state. A devastating drought wiped out much of the crop last year, and near-drought conditions marred harvests in 2001 and 2002.

This year, the weather did a turnaround as rains refilled ponds, streams and lakes and saturated the soil in some parts of the state. It also brought periods of unseasonably cool air.

That’s got some state agricultural experts predicting a record-breaking crop this year.

In 1999, Kansas had a record corn harvest of 450 million bushels, said Sue Schulte, communications director for the Kansas Corn Growers Assn. in Garnett. The association said this year’s crop could top that.

Pat Ross, of rural Lawrence, monitors the drainage of water from one of his cornfields northeast of Lawrence. Recent heavy rains have left water standing in fields; area corn and soybean fields shouldn't be hurt by the water, but farmers will be anxious to bring the crops in next month.

Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service earlier this month estimated the crop would be 40 percent larger than a year earlier, or more than 420 million bushels.

The corn even looks good in western and northwestern Kansas, areas that were especially hard hit by the drought and where less rain fell this year than in the rest of the state, Schulte said.

“But there are going to be some isolated areas where the yield might be hurt,” Schulte said.

In a typical year, corn harvest would begin shortly after Labor Day in northeast Kansas. But if torrential rains that fell in the Douglas County area last week continue, it could make it difficult for farmers to get into the fields to start the harvest.

And the longer the corn stands, the more vulnerable it becomes. High winds or hail could knock down the corn, making it more difficult for combines to scoop up, Wood said. But if wet soil delays harvest, it won’t hurt the corn to remain in the field for a while, he said.

“Corn, once it matures, as long as we don’t have any rot and it’s not pushed over, it can stand for another three or four weeks,” he said.

Ross thinks he will have one of his best corn crops in 30 years of farming.

“Of course, we’re all anxious because we’re expecting to have a bountiful year,” Ross said.

Soybean harvesting will begin in late September and that crop also is looking good in Kansas, Wood and Ross said.

With four months to go in 2004, the city’s official rainfall total is about an inch shy of the average for an entire year.By Sunday, a total of 38.17 inches of rain had fallen this year at Lawrence Municipal Airport, where the city’s official rainfall total is recorded. Average annual rainfall in Lawrence is 39.79 inches, said Jennifer Shack, 6News meteorologist.

Kansas Agricultural Statistics estimated the soybean crops could top 86.7 million bushels. That would be 52 percent more than the 57 million bushels cut last year. Anticipated soybean yields were put at 34 bushels an acre.

But cool weather can slow the development of the crop. And if wet grounds delay soybean harvest, the plants could become weighted down with bean pods and break open, causing a loss of yield, Wood said.

Some Midwestern farmers also are seeing an outbreak of a disease called “sudden death syndrome” in soybeans, Ross said. He has seen a little of it in his 1,400 acres of soybeans.

The syndrome causes what appeared to be a good plant to turn brown and die for no apparent reason, Ross said. It has been seen in previous years in some soybean fields that were planted early or in irrigated fields, he said.

“It’s just a matter of time to wait and see what kind of effect it has on the fields,” Ross said.

LEWISTON, MAINE (ap) — Gas up the snowblower, but don’t put away your umbrella: The Farmers’ Almanac is predicting a wild winter with heavy precipitation and dramatic temperature swings in the Northeast.The northern Plains and Great Lakes will be snowy, the almanac says, while it will be milder in the southern half of the country. The Northeast will have unusually wet weather — either as rain or snow, according to the almanac.The weather formula used by the 188-year-old Farmers’ Almanac is a closely guarded secret. Prepared two years in advance, the forecasts are based on sunspots, the position of the planets and tidal action of the moon.Milder weather is in store for southern half of the nation, with near normal or balmy temperatures from California to the Deep South, according to the almanac.Later in 2005, the almanac predicts a wet spring for most of the country and an active pattern for the Midwest’s “Tornado Alley” in April and June.