The wet spring has been bad for farmers in Michigan. They've had to wait to get their crops in the ground, and those crops that were in the ground when the rains came didn't fair so well.
The warmer, drier weather in the past week has allowed some farmers to get into their fields and plant their crops.
Kris Turner of the Flint Journal filed a report yesterday on farmers who are putting in 20-hour days to get their crops in on time.
From the Flint Journal:
Jim Collom, an agricultural statistician at the Michigan branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said farmers across the state and country are hurting this year. Michigan farmers battled intense rain that flooded fields and limited the time seed could be planted. Things have improved in the past few days.. Michigan farmers typically have 92 percent of corn planted by this time of the year but only have about 67 percent of it in the ground now, Collom said. Soybeans are worse — only about 31 percent is planted. Farmers typically have about 71 percent of that crop planted by this time of the year.
One farmer, Chad Morey, said the window for planting corn safely is closing, saying he might have to plant more soybeans this year to turn a profit.
The Morning Sun reports that the late plantings and moisture will affect how much farmers are paid:
And even what's planted in the next few days and what was planted earlier this month, will likely face yield and moisture issues in the fall. "We can expect lower yields when we're planting that late, and it will be wet," Gross said. "It's not going to have the time to dry in the field." Farmers get less for wet grains because of the time and expense required to dry them.
