For generations, the Aasmundstad family has planted the fertile lands surrounding North Dakota's Devils Lake, enduring years of lean grain prices and weather disappointments.
But a series of untimely weather conditions since fall is testing the endurance of farm families who thought they'd seen it all in the state — a key growing region of spring wheat and sugar beets.
"This has been one for the books this spring," said Eric Aasmundstad, president of the American Farm Bureau in North Dakota. "There's no room for any water here in the soil. So any little sprinkle we get is like a big rain."
A wet fall saturated soils and was followed by heavy winter snowfall and spring flooding of lakes and rivers. More rain and snow has followed the crests of the state's flooded rivers, bringing freezing temperatures that have chilled soil and kept farmers in the eastern part of the state off their land.
The result is clear at Devils Lake, which has swelled by an estimated 35,000 acres since fall and swamped 1,800 acres of Aasmundstad's land in depths ranging up to six feet.
Aasmundstad is hoping to start planting corn, soybeans, wheat, barley and canola sometime this week, about three weeks behind schedule. But the rising lake will leave 75 percent of his 3,000 acres unplanted this year, he said.
North Dakota has been locked in a wet cycle since 1992, said Dale Ihry, program specialist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency. Devils Lake has risen more than 20 feet in that time, he said, taking tens of thousands of farm acres as it grows.
Aasmundstad said a rise of three more feet will put him out of business for good.
"Next year or two I can see it happen," he said. "We'll still have dry land, but not enough to make a living."
North Dakota farmers planted only 31 percent of the spring wheat crop by May 17, a sharp drop from the five-year average of 87 percent, according to the USDA's most recent crop progress report. The sugar beet crop is 39 percent planted, compared with the five-year average of 95 percent.
Unplanted acres could range from 1 million acres to 3 million, based on past wet years, Ihry said.
In the state's southeast corner near Wyndmere, Arnold Woodbury and his son Todd have seeded little of their 2,800 acres. One-quarter of their acres are under water or too muddy to plant because of flooding from the Sheyenne River. That's a sad sign, Woodbury says, that his unplanted acres could rise again this year. Last year, excess moisture prevented the Woodburys from seeding 400 acres.
"You just got to hope things change," said Woodbury, 66, who plans to grow corn, soybeans and sunflowers. "Every year gets a little worse. You name it, we've had it all this year."
It's no easier to raise livestock under those conditions. The Woodburys' feedlot flooded this spring, causing 15 calves to drown or die of sickness.
Too many wet years have caused the Woodburys to consider drastic action -- installing a costly permanent plumbing system to drain excess moisture from their fields. The network of underground pipes, called tiling, costs up to $800 per acre, but the economics become more attractive the worse the flooding gets.
"The guys that got tiling in here, they've got their crop in already," Woodbury said. "The higher the land (price) gets and the higher the grain prices, the more sense it makes to do it. Because you're losing that much every year anyway."
North Dakota farmers appear finally set for one break. Sunny skies are ahead for eastern regions starting Thursday with temperatures reaching 71 degrees Fahrenheit (22 Celsius) by Sunday.
The clock is ticking, though. The final planting date for spring wheat before insurance is reduced or lost is May 31 in most of the state, with corn growers watching the same date or earlier, Ihry said.
Both crops are already about six days past their ideal planting dates, raising the risk of yield loss.
"Everybody's in the same shape here," Woodbury said. "It's sort of a mess. We've got 30 days of work to do in two weeks."
