Farmers in flood-soaked northeast South Dakota are struggling to get their crops in the ground. Brown County Extension Agronomist Ron Dodds says it’s so wet that some Brown County farmers have given up on planting spring wheat. He says it won’t be long before producers start seeing yield losses on full-season corn. Compounding the problem are numerous township and county roads that still are under water or have been washed out, restricting field access. James River Water Development District Manager Darrell Raschke says if you fly over Brown County, it looks like the Everglades. The Agricultural Statistics Service says that as of May 1, only 22 percent of the spring wheat crop had been planted statewide, compared to 68 percent on a five-year average.
(copyright by the Associated Press)