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Rain dampens hope for good yields in SW Minnesota

Extreme rainfall is dampening hopes for good crop yields in southwest Minnesota.

University of Minnesota extension educator David Bau is based in Worthington, and says the area has seen close to a foot of rain over the last two weeks.

“There’s lots of potholes now, so farmers are losing a big percentage of their crop.  And that will hurt their economics significantly.”

With low commodity prices and tight margins, he says less-than-stellar corn and soybean yields won’t pencil out.

“A lot of farmers are going to have 20 percent yield gone.  The potholes are going to be at least that much of the field percentages.  I’ve seen fields that are half-lakes.”

Bau says Minnesota corn farmers on cash-rented ground have lost money the last four years, and he anticipates those growers will be in the red again this year.