How much more corn? How much did it rain?

The big question in much of the South on Monday (the day after April Fool's Day) will be: How much did it rain?

The Midsouth and much of the Southeast have been been unseasonably dry. In the last week of March, parts of Mississippi were running nearly 7 inches behind on rainfall compared to the historic year-to-date average.

Rain moved across much of Arkansas and Louisiana on Saturday morning, then into Mississippi in the afternoon. A few showers were popping up late in the afternoon in west Alabama.

Showers are in the forecast across much of the region going into the new week. How much it rains will, in part, determine how much more corn is planted in both the Delta and the Southeast.

Dewey Long, Extension grain specialist in Georgia, told me late last week that a combination of dry conditions and increasing fertilizer costs could reduce the projected corn crop in his state from 500,000 acres to something closer to 400,000. Corn planting had virtually stopped in Georgia due to dry conditions.

In the Delta states, corn irrigation started up at least a week ago. Growers were either watering up fields, sustaining young plants on light ground or pre-irrigating so that they could plant corn. Also, some pumps have been running to activate surface-applied nitrogen.

Dan Poston, associate professor at Mississippi State's Delta REC in Stoneville, said late this week that if growers cannot finish corn planting soon or if they have concerns about nitrogen’s cost or availability, they may opt for soybeans.

Tom Barber, Mississippi Extension cotton specialist, said if the weather stays dry until the middle of April, some growers may switch from corn and soybeans back to cotton. Mississippi farmers planted 1.23 million acres of cotton in 2006, but they are expected to plant only 740,000 acres this year.

Dry conditions are causing some Mississippi corn producers to begin irrigating early. This tractor cultivates rows in a Sharkey County corn field near Anguilla, Miss., to make way for furrow irrigation while a center pivot irrigation system runs in a field behind the tractor. (Photo by Robert H. Wells/MSU Delta Research and Extension Center)