Illinois Farmers Hit Hard By Historic Wet Weather

By Stephanie Kim
Illinois Farmers Hit Hard By Historic Wet Weather
In this 2013 file photo, a soggy, rain-soaked cornfield sits unplanted after weeks of constant rain that has kept central Illinois farmers from seeding their ground in Farmingdale, Ill. Illinois farmers are struggling with the same problem in 2019, after experiencing the wettest 12-month period ever recorded in the continental U.S. Seth Perlman / Associated Press
Illinois Farmers Hit Hard By Historic Wet Weather
In this 2013 file photo, a soggy, rain-soaked cornfield sits unplanted after weeks of constant rain that has kept central Illinois farmers from seeding their ground in Farmingdale, Ill. Illinois farmers are struggling with the same problem in 2019, after experiencing the wettest 12-month period ever recorded in the continental U.S. Seth Perlman / Associated Press

Illinois Farmers Hit Hard By Historic Wet Weather

By Stephanie Kim
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The past 12 months have been the wettest ever recorded in the continental U.S., and farmers in the corn and soybean belt are bearing the brunt.

Around this time of year, Illinois farmers usually have about 98 percent of their corn planted. But this year, they’ve only planted half.

Morning Shift looks into the struggles Illinois farmers are facing in the midst of an unusually wet spring and a year of record-setting rain.

GUESTS: Kate Huffman, sixth-generation Illinois farmer

Scott Irwin, agricultural economist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

LEARN MORE: After a biblical spring, this is the week that could break the Corn Belt (Washington Post 6/4/19)