Too much of a good thing drowns farm fields

An overabundance of spring rain has drowned the hopes of many southern Indiana farmers for a good crop year.\nMike Thomas has planted corn on just 58 of the 300 acres he farms outside Evansville. He's left most of his fields fallow, though still hopes to plant soybeans this month if the weather cooperates and the soil dries. Low spots on his farm have standing water.\n"We could go fishing out in the field in a boat," Thomas said Tuesday. "It's not pretty. You've got all these wet spots in the middle where the plants are rotted ... I've been in this game 30 years, and this is probably the worst I've seen."\nMeanwhile, parts of eastern Indiana were drying out after two days of heavy rains and flooding.\nFarmers in other parts of Indiana have fared reasonably well, with spring rainfall totals across most of central and northern Indiana slightly below normal to an inch or two above normal, said Steve Wilson, deputy statistician with the Indiana Agricultural Statistics Service.\nBut the heat plants need to germinate has been in short supply, with temperatures 2 to 5 degrees below normal this spring in most areas.\n"It's too early to tell whether we've had any yield damage yet to some of these plants," Wilson said. "But if we don't have a normal year from now on, it could compound into yield losses."\nWet conditions also delayed planting last spring, followed by crop-damaging drought in July and August. Indiana's 2002 corn harvest fell nearly 30 percent, and its soybean harvest dropped about 15 percent from 2001's record harvests.\nWilson hopes this year's wet spring is not setting Indiana farmers up for another harsh, dry summer.\n"But if we have normal rainfall the rest of the year, we'll still be pretty good," he said.\nSeveral eastern Indiana counties and parts of southern Indiana were hit with flooding Sunday and Monday. Rainfall totals for the two days approached 10 inches in some areas.\nIn eastern Indiana's Union County, most of the 11 rural county roads that were closed because of high water reopened Tuesday, said Wanda Hartman, county highway supervisor.\nCrews Tuesday restored water service temporarily in Brownsville, about 12 miles south of Richmond, after Monday's storm washed out a water main. Residents were being asked to boil water they intend to drink.\nState officials who surveyed eastern Indiana counties were considering asking federal authorities for a disaster declaration that could free up aid, Alden Taylor, spokesman for the State Emergency Management Agency, said.\nSouthern Indiana farmers who are unable to plant because of poor conditions are expected to seek federal aid, said Wilson, of the agricultural service.\nAs of Sunday, 94 percent of the corn Indiana farmers expected to plant this year was in the ground, compared to an average 99 percent for the same date the last five years. In northern and central Indiana, 100 percent of the crop is planted. But just 72 percent is in the ground to the south.\nStatewide, 85 percent of soybean acreage is planted, compared with an average 94 percent.