Ohio's corn crop, which in April looked like it could be the second-biggest planting since World War II, now is in danger of being one of the smallest planted.

Frequent rains throughout April and May have left fields statewide in alternating states of flooded, soggy, and muddy, making it almost impossible for Ohio's farmers to get their corn planted.

As of Sunday, only 19 percent of the state's corn crop had been planted, which was 74 percentage points behind last year's pace and the state's five-year average for this time of year. Only 7 percent of soybeans have been planted, although there is more time to get them in the ground than corn without great yield loss.

Looming for corn farmers is a Sunday deadline -- the date they can scrap planting efforts and get 100 percent of their crop insurance payment. Farmers who hold off on insurance claims to attempt to plant corn will see their insurance refund diminished by 1 percent per day after Sunday. Depending on how much a farmer invested in seed and nutrients, holding off more than a week or two can lead to a financial loss.

Sunday "is kind of a magic date, isn't it?" said Gary Baldosser, who farms in parts of Seneca and Sandusky counties.

"I probably am a little above average planting corn than everybody else. We're at 75 percent," he said.

Mr. Baldosser said he didn't get lucky so much as he got desperate. He started planting May 10 and opted to plant corn in drier fields already prepared for soybeans.

"I had already made the decision to plant whatever ground was fit for corn. But now we don't have any beans planted, so that was the trade- off," he said. "But I have until June 20 or so to plant beans, so there's time still. … It was critical to get the corn into the ground."

Roy Klopfenstein, a farmer in Paulding County, has only been able to plant on one day thus far, getting 20 percent of his corn planted but no soybeans yet.

"North of us has a little more planted and south of us about the same. But I have three friends south of Columbus … and none of the three have so much as turned a wheel," Mr. Klopfenstein said. He plans to hold off on an insurance decision until June 11, then decide whether to plant beans in corn fields or let fields go fallow.

Charlie Russell, an agricultural statistician who prepares Ohio's weekly crop weather report for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said the rainy weather has hurt farmers statewide, not just across northwest Ohio.

"It's a problem that's pretty much throughout the state and it seems to be just us," he said. "Illinois is 98 percent planted, Indiana 46 percent, Michigan is in the 40s too. But we just seem to be seeing the perfect storm, so to speak."

In April, Ohio farmers were forecast to plant nearly 3.7 million acres of corn, up from 3.45 million in 2010. Now that number is just a mirage. "It will drop significantly from the April planting prediction," Mr. Russell said.

Ohio State University agricultural extension agents Florian Chirra and Mark Koenig said soil throughout the area remains damp, and more rain is possible this week.

"The soil is super-saturated at this time," said Mr. Chirra, who works in the Williams County extension office. "I don't know what's going to happen. [Farmers] keep pushing planting back and I don't know what they're going to do. You could push it back to July but then the yield keeps reducing so that you're getting down to 20 bushel per acre by the end of June, and boy, that isn't much."

Mr. Koenig, who operates out of the Sandusky County extension office, said if farmers in his county have 20 percent of their corn in the ground, they would be lucky.

"They really, really want to plant the corn but I guess Mother Nature is going to tell us what's going to happen," he said. "Guys I'm talking to are saying June 15 is their final day before they go for [insurance]. But you look at what the rainfall's been here and you wonder."

Galen Koepke of Koepke Insurance in Oak Harbor, a crop insurance firm that does business in eight northwest Ohio counties, said his phone has been ringing off the hook with worried farmers.

"Most of the people I've talked to are going to wait up until June 10 on corn," he said. "And the final date [for insurance] for beans is June 20."

Contact Jon Chavez at: jchavez@theblade.com or 419-724-6128.

First Published June 1, 2011, 4:47 a.m.