KANSAS CITY - The corn harvest is roaring through Kansas, and farmers are saying it'll be a record crop thanks to heavy rain during the spring and summer months.
Farmers started harvesting a few days ago, and there's at least another week to go, with high yields expected.
They hope to be finished by the end of September, but recent rain has slowed them down, and upcoming rain may put them further behind schedule; the ground has been muddy, and the corn has been wet.
However, the big harvest may lower corn prices, potentially creating negative financial margins for some farmers because of increased production; corn prices are already near record-lows, and are down 50% just in the past three years.
Kansas is a significant national corn producer, averaging around 5.5 million acres planted annually; corn also supports Kansas' agricultural economy through ethanol production and cattle feed.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) projects a record 16.7 billion bushel corn crop this year in the United States.
Kansas farmers produce $3 billion of corn every year, averaging 700 million bushels produced. Kansas ranks sixth nationally in corn production among the 50 states.
The problem for farmers across the country is that supply is outweighing demand.
Kansas has had some regional struggles with this year's corn crop, including a fungal disease known as tar spots; southern rust, another yield-limiting disease; and western bean cutworms and armyworms in Western Kansas, consuming developing kernels and clipping silks, reducing yields even more.