Indiana farmers are ready to turn off the rain

"We have about 65 percent of our corn planted, but there are a lot of areas around here that don't have that much done," said Daviess County farmer Tom Boyd. "I am hearing that there are already people switching from corn to beans."

Mike Myers says he is not one of those making a switch. "We have done really well," he said. "We have a couple of fields that we haven't been able to get into, but other than that we have most of our corn in."

Statewide, the figures this week are worse than those. The weekly crop report shows 45 percent of the corn crop and 15 percent of the soybean crop was planted. Purdue University corn specialist Bob Nielsen says if the weather persists, some farmers may to to plant shorter season corn hybrids or soybeans.

"The problem with a shorter season corn is it gives less yield," said Boyd.

Farmers though are already gambling on getting a maximum yield out of this year's crop. "Of course it can depend on the growing season, but you can start losing yield on corn planted after May 15," explained Boyd. "We'll try to get it in by June 1. After that you start hoping for a late frost or a good grain drier."

Farmers say it has not only been the rain that has been the problem this month. It has been the condition even on days when it didn't rain. "It seemed like it was always cool and cloudy," said Myers. "We need some sunshine and warm temperatures to really dry things out."

Farmers in Daviess County may not be having a great May, but it appears some neighbors are having an even worse time. "I was down in Dubois County and it looked like they were way behind," said Boyd.

"I was just down to Evansville," said Myers. "There are fields down there with water standing in them. It seems the further south you go, the worse the conditions."

Warrick County's Purdue Extension educator, Amanda Mosiman, says farmers in the state's rain-sodden southern counties "are understandably stressed" by the delays.

Purdue agricultural economist Chris Hurt says there's "a sense of immediacy" among farmers to get their crops planted soon.

Local farmers say getting finished is only a few sunny days away.

"I'm still holding out hope even though it's looking tougher on time," said Boyd. "If it would just turn sunny, we could finish in a week."

"Things are getting close," added Myers. "A good week of warm sunny days would sure made a difference."

While farmers say the corn is reaching the critical point, soybean planting can wait. "Beans will almost always produce something," said Boyd. "We can plant beans after wheat and they'll produce. We can wait on them until mid-July."

Perhaps the best news is that despite the rain those crops that did get planted seem to be doing okay.

"What we do have in the ground seems to be doing well," said Myers. "We haven't had that ponding and flooding that would require us to go back and do replanting."