Heavy rainfall creates challenges for farmers as planting season begins

FRANKLIN, Ky. – Farmers in southern Kentucky are facing a tough start to the 2025 planting season as excessive rainfall continues to delay fieldwork and threaten early crops.

With more than 5 inches of rain above normal so far this year, saturated fields are making it difficult for growers to prepare their land and plant on schedule.

Laney Snider, owner of Ruby Branch Farms in Franklin, says the wet conditions have already caused problems, particularly for their wheat crops.

“There has been a lot of wheat under water here in Simpson County. If that wheat stays under water too long, it is going to die and not make a crop,” Snyder said. “Also, just for the fact that we’re trying to get nutrients into the ground and work ground here to prepare for planting. That has been a struggle this spring, too, with all the rain.”

Beyond wheat, the prolonged rainfall is forcing farmers to reconsider their planting plans this season. Many typically start with corn, but if the fields remain too wet, they may have to switch to soybeans—something Snyder says comes with its own set of challenges.

“One of the challenges that we could potentially face if this spring continues to be super wet … in Simpson County, we’re typically planting corn before we plant our soybeans,” Snyder explained. “If it continues to be too wet for us to plant our corn, we will have to swap those acres into soybeans. And that can present some challenges because, you know, we’ve already pre-purchased all of our corn seed, and we haven’t pre-purchased enough soybean seed at that point, and there’s just some different chemistry and fertilizer that goes along with those two.”

The excess rainfall has also affected agritourism operations, particularly Snyder’s tulip fields. The extreme weather swings have delayed the flowers’ bloom this year compared to recent previous seasons.

“[The tulips] like that cold weather, but once it warms up, they really kind of want it to stay warm so they can continue coming up and blooming,” she said. “So we’re actually delayed a couple of weeks than what we were last year on our tulips blooming.”

For now, farmers are monitoring their conditions closely, hoping for a shift in the weather. If the rain subsides, there’s still time to recover, but if wet conditions persist, more adjustments may be necessary as the season moves forward for many farmers across the area.