Heavy Rains Take A Toll On Louisiana’s Corn Crop

With parts of the state receiving in excess of 2 feet of rainfall last month it's no wonder our state's farmers are starting the growing season way behind. In particular corn producers in Louisiana are really feeling the impact of wet fields and flooded farms as they try to get their crop in the ground. In some cases they're actually having to replant crops that were washed away by the heavy rain and high water.

LSU AgCenter Corn Specialist Dan Fromme tells the Louisiana Radio Network that this year's growing season has already been a challenging one for corn producers in the state.

At this time some of the fields that were not flooded, there has been a significant portion of those acres that had to be replanted, as well.

He went on to say that some producers are having to make a choice replant their crop or contend with lower than expected  yields. Especially from fields that were already planted and emergent.

When corn sits in water that long, you can take a significant yield hit just from that damaged root system.

The good news for producers is that there are still several weeks left in the planting season so there is still time to make a crop.

In 2014 and 2015 we were right around 400,000 acres for each one of those years. This year we were hoping for a significant increase but right now that’s still up in the air.

In order for Louisiana corn growers to hit those acreage marks this year it will take a stretch or two of dry weather to get the crop in the ground. Forecasters appear to be cooperating with that dry forecast at least for the next several days.