Numerous farmers in south-central Minnesota were coping with standing water on fields after Tuesday night's storm dumped as much as 5 inches in some places. Kent Thiesse, farm management analyst and vice president of MinnStar Bank in Lake Crystal, said many farms around Lake Crystal and Garden City were particularly hard hit, reporting as much as 5 to 6 inches of rain. "A lot of what happens here is going to depend on how long that water stays in the fields," he said. While corn can withstand standing water for 48 to 72 hours in moderate temperatures, soybeans will be harder hit. Those crops are smaller, given more recent planting, and more easily submerged. "If farmers are able to get back in fields within a week to 10 days, they could have a chance to plant earlier varieties of soybeans," Thiesse said. "Some areas take a long time to dry out before you can go back in to do any replanting." Brad Carlson, a crops system educator with the University of Minnesota Extension's Mankato office, said soybeans can be planted as late as July 4, but those varieties have smaller yields. Some farmers choose not to replant for that reason. Even if corn is not underwater, water up to the base of the plant could cause it to die or stunt its yield. "Any of these areas that are flooded, in all likelihood they’re probably not going to drain away in time to save the crops in those defined areas," he said. "For the most part, wherever that water stays standing for two days plus, you can probably expect the crops to die." Sarah Hewitt, who farms with her husband Mark in Le Sueur, Nicollet and Rice counties, said rainfall varied widely on their fields, with some in Nicollet County receiving an inch or two and some toward Kilkenny receiving 3 inches. A rain gauge north of Waseca received 2.89 inches of rain in the 24 hours that ended Wednesday morning, according to the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network. "It's supposed to be warm the next two days so we're hoping the water will go down pretty quickly," she said. Right now, it's a waiting game as to whether they will replant or use crop insurance, she said. One problem is that the ground was saturated from weekend rains. Combined with wind damage on some fields, root depth could be affected, meaning problems for crop recovery, Hewitt said. "We have a little bit of time but not much," she said of replanting. The rain comes on the heels of what has been a "fairly ideal" season so far in the Mankato area, Carlson said, noting farms to the southwest of Worthington have already been coping with a wet season. The most recent U.S. Department of Agriculture state crop progress report released Monday said 96 percent of the soybean crop has emerged and the soybean condition rated 77 percent good to excellent, up from 74 percent the prior week. The corn condition was rated 78 percent good to excellent, up 1 percentage point from the prior week. "For the most part, I don’t anticipate this having a major impact," Carlson said. Source - http://www.mankatofreepress.com