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by Lynn Snyder

After what some farmers considered a near perfect April, an all too wet May and subsequent storms have plagued Ohio crops again this year.

Since mid-June, several counties have experienced rain and flooding enough to warrant states of emergency and federal disaster assistance. Residents of Butler, Hamilton, Preble, Montgomery and Warren counties were hit with storms and flooding June 13 to 15. The National Weather Service reports that during the weekend of June 13 to 16, parts of Butler County received between four and eight inches of rain.

Federal disaster assistance was approved for Auglaize, Darke, Logan, Mercer, Shelby and Van Wert counties. Constant rainfall in those six counties averaged more than one foot of water during the period of July 4 through 7, with additional daily rainfall worsening the flooding conditions. Gov. Bob Taft declared a state of emergency for Cuyahoga, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Summit and Trumbull counties after heavy rains and a tornado swept through the area in mid-July.

The Ohio Agricultural Statistics Service's Crop and Weather Report for the week ending July 20 estimated that 28 percent of corn is silking, 49 percent of soybeans are blooming and 6 percent of soybeans are setting pods. Hay was rated at 55 percent good to excellent condition and temperatures remain below normal.

Mike Schumm, Van Wert County, and Marvin Larrick, Highland County, provided Buckeye Farm News with a crop report from their areas of the state:

Schumm's area was affected by flooding. He said from July 4 to July 9, 12 1/2 inches of rain was recorded. He is estimating a 25 percent overall crop loss. "Corn looks all over the place, fields up and down," he said. He believes he has the "worst bean crop in quite some time. Those who got beans out early are a little better," he said. With the cooler weather this summer, he said the soybeans and corn are behind. However, his wheat crop was the best in the last several years.

"I don't know what's worse – watching crops burn up (like last year) or drown," he said. The weather cycle has been "unbelievable in Ohio the last couple of years."

"We had a super April," Larrick said. "We were two days from being done on May 2. Down to 90 acres of corn and 200 beans. A shower was scheduled for May 2. We got back into the fields June 21."

He said he switched the 90 acres to soybeans. "When it gets that late you think it will get dry," he said. His area has still had rain, but the soybeans "came right out of the ground." The corn looks like it has recovered, but he is guessing that upon closer inspection the fields, have a lot of holes and wet spots in them.

He said he doesn't like to make predictions on yields, but he estimates a 20 to 25 percent loss. "The next month and a half will determine that," he said.

"It kinda hurts to know we had a good potential yield and lost a lot of it," he said. But he also said there is lots of time left. "If you took the month of May out of it, it could've been a perfect yield."

Stoll said the corn in his area looks good, especially the corn that was planted earlier in the year. For corn planted later, he said there will definitely be yield losses. As a dairy farmer, Stoll said his concern is the frequency of rain and the effect it has on getting hay silage put in without getting rained on. He also said the rain has affected the tonnage of the alfalfa crop. He said in the last two weeks, his area has received six inches of rain, "and these aren't soft rains," he said, describing them more like torrential rains. "The ditches are full and it's creating challenges as far as the [amount of] water," he said. His area could use two to three weeks of dry weather, without terribly warm temperatures, then have one inch of rain every other week, he said.