ZEELAND CHARTER TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Persistent rains are keeping more West Michigan farmers from planting their crops, creating a chain reaction of loss in local agriculture.
"We do about 70 percent of our work in two months, May and June, and we've hardly done anything," said Joe Timmer, sales manager of agronomy division at Farmers Co-Op Elevator Co. in Zeeland Township.
The co-op sells seed, fertilizer and pesticides to around 200 farmers in Ottawa and Allegan Counties. Due to the consistent onslaught of rain, many farmers have been returning their purchases.
"When the weather turns like this, we accept returns on everything, so they get their money back, and we get no sales," Timmer said.
Poor conditions challenging farmers are maintaining a lock on Michigan, said Marlo Johnson, director of the Great Lakes Regional Office of the National Agriculture Statistics Service, in a USDA release.
According to the release, 84 percent of corn and 53 percent of soybeans have been planted as of June 16 – both below the state’s five-year planting average.
"Even some of the old timers [have] never seen it this wet this long," said Austin Morren, an Allegan County farmer. "Usually you catch a break."
Some farmers haven't planted any of their crops and are running out of time. Tim Baker, who owns Star Summit Farm in Byron Center, said his field is too saturated to plant beans.
"It's just mud," Baker said. "We need some sunshine and some heat to dry it out."
If farmers don't have crop insurance, they could face devastating losses, Morren said.
"It keeps raining every three days, and you need about four or five days to dry it up enough to [plant]," he said. "There's quite a few that I know of that are giving up."
Prices of corn, soybeans and hay will likely go up, affecting everyone, Baker said.
"We're all in the same boat," he said. "We're at the mercy of if we're going to get more rain or sunshine and heat."
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