Planting progress in the region was ahead of average at the start of the week, but farmers are falling behind with the heavy rains the last few days. Monsanto Agronomist Jeff Fuls covers eastern South Dakota. He says farmers are generally done planting corn in east central and northeast South Dakota due to drier conditions, but the southeast is lagging due to heavy rain and wet fields. He says it’s getting past the optimal corn planting window after May 10 and so those crops will potentially see some yield loss.

However, even with the possible yield reduction he doesn’t recommend switching to an earlier maturing corn hybrid or to soybeans.

Fuls isn’t seeing any stand issues on the early planted corn, even with cool wet conditions this spring in parts of the region.

As of Monday’s USDA crop progress report corn planting was ahead of average in the western corn belt at 77-percent in South Dakota, 78-percent in Nebraska, 85-percent in Iowa and 84-percent in Minnesota.