Heavy rain delays Midwest corn crop

Now, Gabriel and other Kansas corn farmers have the opposite worry ? recent rains could keep them from finishing their planting and flood acres already planted.

?The rains really held us up and then the river got out and did a little flooding and we had to do some replanting,? Gabriel said.

Gabriel farms near Eudora in eastern Kansas and has land near the Kansas River.

Gabriel recently planted about 75 percent of the 2,000 acres he had set aside for corn and he had to replant about 100 acres because of flooding.

Farmers generally like to have their corn crop planted by now, said Bill Wood, an agriculture extension agent in Douglas County.

Corn planted after May 15 starts to lose potential yield, he said. Generally, the harvest begins in mid-August.

?We got our ponds full; our creeks are running full; our soil is full of moisture,? Wood said. ?We just need some sunshine.?

Kansas State University?s extension service has reported that much of eastern Kansas? soil is saturated with water, which could slow root growth. Too much water over an extended period makes the soil cooler, which also limits growth, Wood said.

?Tilling some soils when they are too wet can produce large, persistent clods, complicate planting, reduce herbicide effectiveness and destroy seedbed,? Price said.