Ind. farmers make rapid progress planting corn

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) -- Indiana farmers who had worried that wet spring weather would prevent them from planting some of their corn fields have made rapid progress getting the state's top crop in the ground.

The federal government's weekly crop report says that as of Sunday, 86 percent of Indiana's corn crop had been planted. That puts Indiana ahead of the five-year average of 77 percent for corn planted by late May.

Purdue Extension corn specialist Bob Nielsen says favorable soil conditions and high-capacity planting machinery allowed Indiana's farmers to plant 78 percent of their corn crop in the past three weeks. Fifty-six percent of the corn crop had already emerged.

Farmers have planted 60 percent of the soybean crop, compared with the five-year average of 49 percent. Soybeans typically are planted after corn.