With the recent heavy rains and flooding in the northwestern corn belt soils are saturated and portions of fields are underwater. Pioneer Agronomist Curt Hoffbeck covers southwestern Minnesota and eastern South Dakota. He says both corn and soybeans have a fairly short survival window when immersed in water.

However, he says the air temperature can greatly influence the life of the plant and warmer weather will cause the plant to die quicker.

He says replant options are limited for both corn and soybeans.

Another concern with the excessive rain is nitrogen loss due to leeching. Hoffbeck says losses are greater in sandy soils verses heavy soils. However, in both cases he advises side-dressing corn as soon as the field dries up.

He says the yield impact of long term flooding and excessive nitrogen loss can be substantial according to Iowa State research.