Rain complicates planting season

BENTON, MO (KRCU) - Torrential rain and flooding have complicated what should have been a good year for Southeast Missouri farmers.

Commodity prices for corn, wheat, and soy beans remain high. But most farmers have been forced to plant later than normal. Some Bootheel farmers lost entire wheat crops due to water standing on their fields.

David Reinbott is an agriculture business specialist at the University of Missouri Extension in Benton. He says that it’s been a difficult year, but it is still too early to call it a loss.

"Corn has just been delayed. Corn that should have been planted in the end of March or April is now getting planted in mid-May," Reinbott said. "Soy beans that should have been planted two or three weeks ago have not even been put in the ground. So we’ve got everything getting delayed and the profit potential that we’re looking at is starting to fizzle a bit. The potential is still there, but not quite as good as maybe it was a month ago or two."

Reinbott says that it all hinges on the weather and water. If we get a couple of weeks of sun, crops should do well. The picture would be complicated if more rain falls on Southeast Missouri.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

Posted in: agriculture,commodities,David Reinbott,flooding,Jacob McCleland