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Record April Showers Bring Farmers May Worries

It's probably no surprise to anyone that after all this rain the ground is soaked and muddy. For farmers looking to plant the Buckeye state's two biggest cash crops, corn and soybeans, this is a problem.

Glen Arnold: Well, if you get too much rain and cold weather on it it won't grow, so you'll have to replant the corn.

That's Glen Arnold of the Ohio State University 's Extension Service. He says Ohio farmers who would normally be finishing up planting corn have nothing in the ground yet. In fact, they will need to wait for the fields to dry before they can plant, that means about 8 to ten days without a lot of rain. If not, Arnold says, corn farmers may feel the impact with lower yields.

Glen Arnold: And that's the life of a farmer. They're very accustomed to the stress and the emotions that go with spring planting and farmers know they can't control the weather.

And it's also big business. The state of Ohio harvested $3 billion worth of corn last year. Soybean farmers have a little more breathing room. Farmers usually plant soy at the end of May.