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Early week thunderstorms saturate already wet parts of Minnesota

Another round of thunderstorms could multiply the number of prevent plant acres across northern Iowa and southern Minnesota.

University of Minnesota Extension ag business management instructor David Bau says the May 31^st crop insurance date for corn has some growers looking at alternatives.

“We’re seeing the wettest areas along Interstate 90 east, west, and south, that bottom tier of counties is where the planting progress has been the slowest because it’s basically the wettest.”

Parts of north-central Iowa have also experienced excessive rainfall this spring, including Memorial Day thunderstorms that brought strong winds and hail.

As delays mount, Bau tells Brownfield the planting date for corn represents more than a yield hit.

“They have a final planting date, then there’s 25 days of a late planting period where they can still plant the crop but their coverage goes down 1 percent every day as the season goes on.  So if they bought 75 percent coverage, they’d lose 1 percent of that coverage every day they plant late.”

He says there are still many options for farmers, whom he directs to visit with their crop insurance agent before making final decisions.