Farmers anxious to get back out into the fields to plant and wrap up other early season soil work will have to wait a little longer as much-needed rain continues to fall across the region.
The state has experienced extremely dry, if not drought-like conditions, since 2020. Moisture, in fact, has been difficult to come by across a wide swath of the upper Midwest in recent years. Soil moisture maps, as recently as this past month, show many areas are still considered abnormally dry — especially in eastern portions of the state and in a number of counties adjacent to Moody.

The steady drenching that Moody County has seen over the past few weeks offers hope to area farmers, among others, that growing conditions will be favorable this year. Both topsoil and subsoil conditions continue to improve. Flandreau’s Official Weather Station saw 2.86 inches of rainfall this past weekend alone and more rain is forecast along with cooler temperatures as we go throughout the week.
In addition to the chance for higher yield with better growing conditions, the USDA is reporting in its Prospective Plantings report for 2024 that more South Dakota farmers intend to plant soybeans versus corn this year. The adjustment takes place routinely and typically varies slightly from year to year. Growers surveyed across the United States intend to plant 90.0 million total acres of corn in 2024, down 5% from last year.
Soybean growers intend to plant 86.5 million acres in 2024, up 3% from last year. Acreage increases from last year of 100,000 or more are expected in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, and South Dakota.
Farmers aren’t the only ones happy to see the rain. Fisherman and river enthusiasts are thrilled to see water levels rebound for the Big Sioux River and other area waterways after years of low-level conditions. Water levels along the Big Sioux north of Flandreau and throughout Moody County on Monday were listed at 4.48 feet by the National Weather Service.