Agriculture officials in Illinois plan to seek a federal disaster declaration for crop damage resulting from spring and summer flooding.The declaration would make farmers eligible for loans, and in some cases emergency funding, said Scherrie Giamanco, state executive director for the Farm Service Agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Illinois.Giamanco said Tuesday that county FSA offices statewide have collected damage reports on corn, soybeans and other crops to back the declaration request to USDA.“That starts the ball rolling,” said Giamanco.Giamanco said the Illinois Department of Agriculture and Gov. Bruce Rauner also backed the request. She added that she has seen crop damage firsthand, including a visit earlier this week to Iroquois County in east-central Illinois.“I didn’t see a good-looking soybean field,” said Giamanco, “and the corn was short. It’s all water damage.”The wettest June on record in Illinois has been followed by an unusually soggy July, according to records at the Illinois State Water Survey based in Champaign. Statewide precipitation averaged 9.37 inches last month, breaking the previous record of 8.27 inches for June set in 1902.A weekly USDA field report released Tuesday showed more than half the state’s soybean and 44 percent of the corn crop were in poor to fair condition at the start of the week. Only about three days in the past week were suitable for fieldwork, according to the report.Farmers in Illinois have been unable to complete planting of soybeans, which normally are well into development at this point in the year. Standing water also has damaged winter wheat and pastures.Flood damage this spring and summer follows a record year for both Illinois corn and soybeans in 2014. USDA reported the state’s farmers produced an average 200 bushels an acre of corn and 56 bushels an acre of soybeans last year. In Sangamon County, average yields were 226.8 bushels of corn and 63.3 bushels an acre of soybeans.Wayne Cross said flood-damaged spots that produced 200 bushels an acre of corn and up last year on his 1,700-acre farm near Buffalo likely would produce little or nothing this year. He added that the extent of damage would not be known until harvest.Cross said he’s among farmers using aerial fungicide to combat the further threat of weather-related diseases in corn and soybeans.“Wet, humid conditions are very good breeding grounds,” said Cross.Fungicides are intended to prevent the spread of diseases that damage leaves, stalks and roots, and eventually affect yields and prices.“There’s a lot of planes in the air,” said Alan Bailey, who travels the area in his work for the CHS farm-services cooperative at Lowder.Bailey, who also farms soybeans in southern Sangamon County, said it would take several days of drying to get back into fields. The National Weather Service is forecasting a stretch of warm, dry weather into next week for much of the state.Soybeans are especially susceptible at this point in the year, said John Fulton, director of the Logan, Menard, Sangamon Extension Office.“They don’t take heat and standing water very well,” said Fulton. “They are basically covered with hot water.”Flood damage has not been limited to corn and soybeans, said Fulton. He advised homeowners to also check trees and decorative plants for long-term damage from soggy soil.“Basically, it’s the same scenario,” said Fulton. “When the soils are saturated, there’s not enough oxygen.”___Illinois crop conditionsCorn: 5 percent very poor, 11 percent poor, 29 percent fair, 43 percent good and 12 percent excellent.Soybeans: 7 percent very poor, 13 percent poor, 33 percent fair, 39 percent good and 8 percent excellent.44 percent topsoil and 42 percent of subsoil saturated.Source - http://www.pjstar.com/