While many farmers in southwestern Michigan and northern Indiana watch as the cumulative rainfall totals continue to soar, a few farmers in pockets of the region claim a little rain right now would be appreciated.
"If we get a quarter inch of rain, everyone else gets 3 inches," said Eldon Kuehl, referring to his sandy fields in the Coloma and Watervliet areas.
"My heavier ground has plenty of moisture," Kuehl said on Monday. "The sandy fields aren't suffering, but in those soils it's always good to be ahead. We could take a half to an inch of rain right now."
According to the Michigan State University Regional Rainfall Summary, the total average rainfall for Southwest Michigan is 11.55 inches since April 1. Allegan County leads the way with 15.29 inches during that period.
What is different about the year's rainfall accumulation is how the moisture was received—typically in a weather event bringing multiple inches in a short time period. The rapid delivery left little opportunity for already wet soils to draw the moisture into its pores. With nowhere else to go, water that could be stored and used during critical growth stages, has often found its way into ditches and waterways, sweeping precious topsoil and any expensive inputs clinging to soil particles along as the water rushed toward lower ground.
While most farmers wait for fields to dry out long enough to spray or apply nitrogen, it is surprising to note that total rainfall for the entire area is only up by about 1.5 inches over a five-year period dating back to 2010.
In some cases, hard rainfalls that caused flash floods and rising waters in ditches, creeks and rivers, were so scattered that less than five miles from a downpour, farmers could continue fieldwork as normal while watching the storm pass in the distance.
"Before it rained 5 inches in just two weeks, we were actually about an inch behind in rainfall for the area," said Mark Longstroth, Extension fruit educator. "It all depends on where you are."
Longstroth says that the conditions are favorable for area fruit crops and plants are not stressed. "The 70-mile per hour wind that we were supposed to get didn't happen which would have really damaged trees, especially cherries."
Decatur area farmer Carl Druskovich is making the transition from conventional to no-till crop production and utilizing cover crops as a management resource.
"We got an 8-inch rain over three days that was the worst anyone could remember here," he said. "The cover cropped ground held up great with a little ponding but no washouts that we had on the tilled soil."
Druskovich had finished his nitrogen side-dress just three days before the rains began. After testing, he determined that some of the fields will require a second nitrogen application to recover what was lost during the storms. The tests showed little difference in nitrogen loss between fields with cover crops and those without its benefit.
"More than anything, we need some degree days on the fields," Druskovich said.
In fruit growing areas, cherry harvest will begin in Berrien County later this week and will move north into Van Buren County early next week. Barring unexpected weather events, southwestern Michigan is anticipating an excellent cherry crop, unlike other regions of the state where the cherry crop is dismal at best.
"I am clueless what the long range forecast holds. Experts told us at the beginning of the month that June would be warmer and drier than usual but it's turned out to be wet and cooler than normal," Lontstroth said.