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"Overall the season gets high marks, although there has been a fair amount of bounce in the road so far," stated Sanilac County MSU Extension Director Martin Nagelkirk.

"It has been quite a bit cooler than normal...and the rain was there when we did not necessarily need it. The monthly average tended to be over abundant in April and May."

Nagelkirk added, "Now I wonder if we are coming into a dry spell, last week (first of June) a lot of the county only got 1/2 inch of rain.

"The soils have been cold all spring and some fields are slow coming up, corn and soy beans in particular," he noted.

However, unlike some areas in the state, Sanilac County farmers have been able to plant almost all of the corn acreage they planned.

"Some were a little bit tardy...We're still trying to access what kind of stands there are. With corn some replanting has been done," Nagelkirk said.

"There have been some mixed results, but overall it is positive...If things went a little more smoothly, we'd get 1% - 2% more acreage," he added.

With high corn prices, farmers planned to set aside more acreage for corn than usual.

"Prices are fairly good. They are still strong, although there is some seasonal fluctuation. A number of our prices are already locked in. More than in the past years, this crop (of corn and soy beans) is already sold," Nagelkirk stated.

The sugar beet crop looks very good.

"Agriculturist Paul Wheeler said 90% of his crop is better than '06 and Mike Leen said he has good stands, as good or better than last year...Last year was very good in this area," stated Paul Pfenninger, Michigan Sugar Vice-President of Agriculture.

Farmers have planted 41,337 acres of beets, a little less than a year ago, but almost all of what the company wanted. Pfenninger said they have only had to replant 1,100 acres.

"It has been a long spring. The first planting was March 27 and we finished planting the second week of May. Now the heat is coming on good, the crop has caught up," he stated.

"The agriculturists are cautiously optimistic. We are seeing some seedling diseases, but nothing out of the norm,"Pfenninger added.

"We're worried about the wind (on June 7). The beet is very vulnerable when it is young. When it is sand blasted it girdles the root at the soil level and leads to diseases or the death of the beet. We had dirt moving although a lot of growers do conservation tillage," he noted.

The wheat crop is a little disappointing.

"The stands are not real strong...But it is still in good shape. We have really enjoyed good stand the last few years, it's not bad, but is not on a par with the last few years," Nagelkirk said.

Farmers are in the midst of planting the dry beans.

"They started to go in during the last few days," he stated last Thursday, " and will continue the rest of the week."

The hay crop has also developed slowly due to the cool spring, but the first cutting is coming off on time.

"It is fairly good. We are working around the showers. We try to go after it the last of May, first of June," Nagelkirk added.