Farmers have been praying for rain for three years. Now, they may be praying for it to stop. Georgia is still in its fourth year of official drought, but frequent March and April showers have turned fields into quagmires just when farmers need a few dry days to finish spring planting. Rainfall was 2 to 4 inches above the normal 5 inches for March, said David Stooksbury, the state climatologist. Another 1 to 2 inches splattered down last week.
Corn is usually the first spring row crop, so corn growers are feeling the most pressure.
The prices worry me more than anything. Jerry Heard, a farmer in southwest Georgia's Baker County, said his farm got 6 to 8 inches in March. He and his family grow corn, cotton and peanuts. I'm very glad to see the rain. The rain put the Heards about 15 days behind schedule in corn planting.