Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Rains could harm area crops

Summertime in Arkansas is usually accompanied by drought-like conditions, but so far this year, the weather has acted completely different.

Were always begging and pleading, Jerry Clemons, director of the Clark County Extension Service, said of previous summers. They year were just getting too much.

Although crops need water to grow, Clemons said some crops are being adversely affected by the large amounts of rain. Theyre just getting too much at one time, he said.

Clemons noted at least one instance in Clark County in which soybeans are in a low-lying area and are almost being drowned out by the rains.

The rain could continue to affect the soybeans even after the fields dry. Clemons said farmers will have to watch out for soybean rust as the season progresses.

No soybean rust has been reported in Arkansas this year.

Another crop that could be affected in a major way is corn. Clemons said farmers are not able to get into the fields to cut the hay because of the extremely wet fields.

Hay is affected in a negative way when it is left in the fields for too long, Clemons said. The longer is grows, the lower the hays quality. Older and tougher hay yields less nutritional value to livestock and affects their feeding ratios.

Hay is also affected by diseases that are caused by moisture.

Clemons said most hay should grow no more than about 30 days between cuttings.

Corn should not be affected by the continuing rain, Clemons said, as the 110 day cycle for the corn is over.

One common comment Clemons said he has heard is that the grass should be growing good due to the high amounts of rainfall. Thats not necessarily true, he said.

Its got to have sunshine to grow, too, he said.

As the sun begins to come out, Clemons said mosquitoes may become a problem because of the increased amount of standing water left by the rain.

Weve gone from one extreme to the other, he said.

The large amount of rain hasn't caused many other problems thus far in the county, said Jim Burns, director of the Office of Emergency Management.

Everything's saturated, Burns said. If more heavy rains are received, some areas of the county could be facing flash flooding. So far, it's been spread out enough to give it time to run off.

With more rain predicted, Burns agreed that July will probably set a record for rainfall, he said. We're usually dry this time of the year.

(Donna Hilton of the Daily Siftings Herald contributed to this report.)