Unlike the rains of Spain said to fall mainly on the plain, the rains of north-central Indiana last week fell heavily on row crops and left farmers watching the sky to see when they would end. Two Fulton County farmers are hoping for "just enough" – but not too much.

"So far, we’re okay," said Tom Weaver, who planted corn in his 1,200 acres nearly fencerow-to-fencerow. With planting done by May 15, he felt pretty good about prospects until his scout called and told him he’d missed an area. Donning his work clothes again, Weaver went to check. "Sure enough, I’d missed a 3.5-acre area behind the woods. I loaded everything up and returned to the field. It was after midnight when I finished planting, but it was good timing because the rains started soon after I finished."

Kris Fear and his father, Ross, had 1,800 acres of row crops planted when the rains started, but now they’re finding the precipitation is tying up nutrients, resulting in uneven emergence.

"Still, we’re ahead of the heat unit," he said in reference to the fact that growth and development of corn are strongly dependent on temperature. "If it were cooler it would hurt us a lot more." Right now, the Fears’ biggest concern is 150 acres of hay that needs to be made.

Bob Nielsen of Purdue University’s Agronomy Department amplified that by saying a string of warmer-than-normal days in late spring will encourage faster leaf development, while a cooler-than-normal grain filling period will delay the date of grain maturity.