By Susan Orr, Evansville Courier & Press
Recent rains have been no friend to this year's Tri-State corn crop.
In an average year, about 17 inches of precipitation would have fallen by now. As of Wednesday afternoon, Evansville had received 30.38 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service - almost 80 percent higher than normal.
"Normally, we have about this much rain by the end of August," said Robin Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Paducah, Ky., office.
Lots of rain means soggy soil, and that means many farmers who ideally would have planted corn weeks ago still are waiting for the ground to dry out.
And the longer a farmer waits to plant corn, the smaller the crop yield will be at harvest time.
Jim Swinney, general manager of Posey County LLC, Posey County's farm co-op, said many of his members are late getting corn into the ground.
"We're 40 percent planted when we should be 100 percent planted," he said.
The target date to get a corn crop in the ground here is April 20, Swinney said. So most already are at least a month behind schedule, he said.
The amount of delay varies from farm to farm, Swinney said. Recent rains have hit some areas harder than others, and a farm's elevation and drainage have an impact, too.
Peter Rudolph of Rudolph Brothers Farms is among those affected by the weather.
He farms 1,200 acres on Yankeetown Road in Warrick County. As of Tuesday, he hadn't started planting corn because the soil was too wet.
Ideally, Rudolph said, he'd have started planting corn around the first of May.
Waiting means the plants' development won't mesh as well with weather conditions. In this area, Rudolph said, corn pollination is most successful when it takes place in early or mid-July.
A delay in planting means pollination won't happen until later in the summer when conditions are usually hotter, dryer and less conducive to pollination.
If pollination is less successful, farmers have less corn at harvest time.
"Every day we don't get planted is a reduction in yield in the fall," Swinney said.
An average area corn yield is 140 bushels an acre, Rudolph said, and "we look at losing approximately a bushel a day for every day we're delayed planting after the first of May."
"This year, planting late does have a lot of farmers nervous," Rudolph said.
Those interviewed said it's been several years since corn planting was delayed this long.
Compounding the situation is the fact that farmers are spending a lot more this year on seed, chemicals and fertilizer.
Even though commodity prices are up, Rudolph said, "we have a lot more money at risk this year than we have in years past."
At Miles Farm Service in the Spencer County town of Hatfield, 18-46-0 fertilizer - one of the fertilizers used to grow corn - costs $980 a ton. Last year, it cost about $360.
"All the different kinds of fertilizers are making similar percentage jumps," said Kerry Cline, Miles' account consultant.
Cline said he's been told that increased international demand, especially from India and China, is driving up prices.
"We don't see it (the price) going down, and we're still seeing increases," he said.
Until he can start planting, Rudolph and his crew are staying busy with equipment maintenance.
Once the ground dries out, Rudolph - and other farmers - will be moving as quickly as possible.
That said, Rudolph has a request to make of rural motorists.
"If you see us moving down the road, try to give us a little extra space."