Much of the corn and wheat belts received a blast of heavy rains or even snow this week, leaving planting equipment idle in the shed. The unusually wet weather makes fields too muddy to enter and could drown corn seeds even if the fields could get planted.
Meanwhile, the winter wheat crop is threatened by freezing temperatures that are descending across the Plains States, which could threaten the grain that will begin to be harvested next month. Fears of frost damage helped boost July Kansas City wheat futures near a two-week high at $4.39 per bushel on Friday.