From drought to fooding overnight, fields located northwest of St. Louis, Mo. are proof too much rain is not a good thing, especially when it falls in a matter of hours. Farmers on both the Missouri and Illinois side surrounding St. Louis went from worried about drought robbing their yields to flood waters wiping out their crops in one day.
Photos like the one above are rolling in from around Troy, Mo. that show the aftermath of the rain. Localized areas have reports of rainfall totals north of 14 inches.
“The majority of all the bottom ground is flooded, and it’s looking like what happened last year is happening again this year. We lost all our bottom ground last year and had to replant soybeans into flooded out corn fields in the bottoms. Time will tell, and it depends on how much water the fields have and how long it stays on the corn and soybeans,” explains Kyle Allen, a Channel seed dealer just outside of Troy, Mo.
This map from AgDay meteorologist Matt Yarasewick shows just how heavy the rain was. The pocket surrounding Troy, Mo. saw 14.2 inches of rain. The narrow band caused historic totals in some areas. The map indicates the system also dropped more than 9 inches of rain in areas both sides of the state line surrounding St. Louis. However, in St. Clair, Mo., which is located only an hour south of Troy, only saw 0.7 inches of rain.
For those areas shaded in black, blue and purple, the rainfall could be devastating to crops.
From Drought to Flooding
The area was far from perfect before the rains hit. The latest U.S. Drought Monitor showed the area was between abnormally dry to moderate drought. However, area farmers had a different story, as the dryness was taking a toll on their crops.
“We were in severe drought, the corn was beginning to fire,” says Allen. “We were starting to transition to soybeans and hope for the best. We knew the corn wasn’t going to be good.”
USDA latest Crop Progress report released Monday, July 25 shows Missouri’s corn crop is rated 53% “good to excellent” as of Sunday. A year ago, 66% of the crop was in the top two condition rating categories. In Illinois, the corn crop across the state is rated better than last year. Currently, 71% of the state’s corn is in “good to excellent” condition, which compares to 68% a year ago.
Drought Still Parked in Other Areas of the State
Lighter rain amounts across central and northern Missouri came at a critical time, but for areas in the southern half of the drought-stricken state, drought is still a major concern. Missouri Governor Mike Parson signed an executive order last week to accelerate the drought response in the state.
According to DairyHerd.com, the high temperatures and lack of rain that face south-central Missouri have not only played havoc on Michelle Eilenstine’s mind, but also with her corn crop. Eilenstine attempted to chop corn last week but reports it was too thin and short to even go through the chopper.
“So now what do we do?” she told the editor of DairyHerd. “We tried something totally off the grid and wet-baled the corn. Fortunately, the crabgrass undergrowth helped to be able to make it work.”
Cattle producers in southwest Missouri are also concerned about feed as the row crops in the area were impacted by both the drought and heat.
Corn Crop Didn’t Pollinate
Michelle Claflin and her family farm around Sheldon, Mo. She napped a picture of pollination issues in her corn fields.
“Not something I wanted to see, but hubby brought this home today,” Claflin posted on Facebook and shared with Farm Journal. “Dryland corn that looked amazing until heat and drought took its toll. The ear on the right didn’t have a single kernel pollinate.”
Claflin says some of the crop was planted early, but then five weeks straight of rain pushed area farmers out of the field. The high heat in June impacted the earlier planted corn, and last week’s high heat hit the later planted crops.
She says they are now weighing what to chop for silage. They already had silage corn planted for feed, but now fields with ears that look like what’s pictured above will also be chopped.
Some farmers in Missouri are also looking to bale their soybean fields, as last week’s heat depleted outlooks for that crop, too.
