"Rain, rain, go away" might have been the slogan for some local farmers over the last week as they have dealt with the several inches of rain that have hit the area.
Normally, rain would be a good thing for farmers, but when it begins to flood in the field, says the executive director of the Allen County Farm Service Agency, does water begin to be a problem:
"Flooding is a concern - bringing up debris, moving stuff, and not being able to get in to do the tillage you need," said Dave Nusbaum, who is the Allen Co. FSA executive director. "Some of the fieldwork requires before-planning a lot of planning in this area before planting is fertilizer and anhydrous nitrogen that needs to be put on before, we haven’t been able to do that before planting this year so everything’s going to be done a little later."
Thankfully not all hope is lost just yet; there is still a window of opportunity for farmers to still plant and see a good yield down the road.
"We still plenty of time; we've had crops that have been in at the end of May or the first of June and we had good yields from that, maybe if we didn’t have our bumper yields, but we did still have yields," Nusbaum said.
All of this recent rain is causing many of the rivers in our area to rise and even flood in some places, causing problems for people nearby. The Allen Soil and Water Conservation District says the best way to deal with those problems, is to be patient.
"None of us can control the weather and so we have to deal with the problems of that, I know that there are a lot of people that are anxious that they can’t get their yard mowed for the first time, but in the big scheme of things, maybe that’s not as challenging of a priority for the county as keeping everyone safe," said Beth Seibert, Stormwater & Watershed Programs coordinator for Allen Soil and Water Conservation District.
Seibert also added that people should be conscious of storm drains and be sure that those are uncovered and clear of debris to avoid more flooding issues.
