VIDALIA — A week of afternoon thunderstorms and a Saturday drenching were a welcome sign for area farmers, but no one is singing in the rain just yet.

A three-month long drought continues to prove costly to those who make their living from the earth.

“We had a lot of land we couldn’t plant in until this past week because there was no moisture in it,” Adams County farmer Ross McGehee said. “Our row crops are almost two months behind schedule from what they normally are.”

Thanks to the drought and the Mississippi River flood, McGehee, who plants corn, wheat, cotton and soybeans, said he has to rely on soybeans to be his best yielding crop.

“We lost everything we planted early when the river backed up in our fields, and we had to wait for it to go down to replant,” he said. “By the time we got in to plant in some of the areas again, the fields were too dry to plant in.”

McGehee said farmers usually try and have their cotton, corn and soybean crops planted by June 20, but he just finished planting soybeans July 18.

“It is far too late to plant corn and cotton,” he said. “And with the soybeans planted so late we are probably going to lose around 20 bushels per acre. At the current prices that means we are going to be out $275 an acre.”

With more than2,000 acres of soybeans planted, McGehee said the loss in income is going to add up.

“If you have $275 coming off the top and you have 1,000 acres, that is $275,000 you aren’t going to have after you pay all your bills,” he said.

LSU AgCenter Concordia Parish County Agent Nan Huff said irrigation has been the key to higher crop yields in the parish.

“The potential for yield in the parish is going to be in a wide range,” she said. “Irrigated crops are going to see higher yields than non-irrigated ones.”

Huff said the farmers with irrigated crops may have better yields, but thanks to their water usage, they are also going to have higher costs.

“Through the whole summer the irrigation wells haven’t really had a chance to be turned off,” she said. “Input costs are going to be high.”

Huff also said the high temperatures have also been stressing the crops, making it harder for anything to grow.

“There was a period during the summer where the temperature at night didn’t drop below 75 degrees,” she said. “That is not good for crops. They need a chance to cool down, so they are less stressed.”

McGehee said even with the lower yields, he expects to break even at the end of the year.

“Commodity prices are so high right now that even with a diminished yield you can still break even,” he said. “They are high enough now that you can take a gamble on planting late.”

McGehee said farmers know they are going to have problems with yields during a drought, and even during one this bad, planting crops is always better than not planting.

“You have to pay the bills at the end of the year, and if you don’t, foreclosure is the next option,” he said. “It is always better to have 50 percent of something rather than 100 percent of nothing.”

Huff said parish crops can still be helped with rain, and that the next month will be crucial in determining just how much agriculture has been affected.