Marion-Clinton County Farm Bureau Manager Brad Conant says the rains last Thursday through Saturday came in time to prevent serious damage to the corn and soybean crops.
The area had moved into the moderate drought category in the two weeks before the storms, but Conant says the crops quickly recovered.
“Probably early enough to be beneficial to the crop going forward. Still a good chance for a great crop this year just the extended drought prior to that might of taken away the record breaking discussion. Overall as long as timely rain continues we still have a high percentage to have a really good crop this year.”
Conant says the dry conditions did stunt some of the plant growth but the rain came before pollination.
He reports the region had a good winter wheat harvest that had been completed before the storms arrived.
“From what I’m hearing around the County, everybody was pretty pleased with the wheat crop. A lot of yields anywhere from between 80 to breaking triple digits which is very good for this area for wheat. Good test weight and came out of the field dry for the most part so everybody was pretty happy with their wheat crop and got it out with any damage or concern about weather.”
Rainfall around Marion County ranged from two and a half to more than three inches of rain during the series of storms. He notes Marion and Clinton County avoided the wind damage experienced in parts of Washington and Jefferson County and across the central part of the state.
