Expert says rain too late to help corn, soybeans

It wasn’t a drought-breaker, but it was welcome nonetheless.

The rain last weekend wasn’t enough to help farmers with corn and soybeans, but it did help restore topsoil moisture and provide relief for drought-parched pastures.

That was the assessment on Monday by climatologist Pat Guinan of MU Extension.

The increased moisture and cooler temperatures will create greener pastures in and around Columbia, Guinan said. But the rain probably arrived too late to help farmers with their row crops.

“It’s definitely too late to help the corn and probably too late to help the soybeans,” Guinan said. “The critical period for enhancing the yields has already passed.”

Guinan said 2.73 inches of rain was recorded at Sanborn Field on the MU campus, mostly between 3 and 3:30 a.m. Saturday.

“Prior to this, we were running over 9 inches below normal, and since the storm, it’s more along the lines of six or seven inches below normal,” Guinan said. “It hasn’t completely eliminated the deficit we’ve accumulated, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.”

Normal yearly rainfall through the end of August at Columbia Regional Airport is 27.26 inches. Rainfall at the airport was 6.4 inches below average for the year Monday afternoon; Sanborn Field was 3.27 inches below the average.