ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Missouri wheat and soybean farmers have had a trying year in the same weather patterns that extended south of St. Louis and east into southern Illinois and Indiana.

A soggy spring, including flooding along the state’s many riverbeds, resulted in 1 million fewer soybean acres than in 2014.

The wet spring also contributed to downed wheat and grain quality issues in Missouri’s 610,000 wheat acres harvested – 150,000 fewer acres than planted.

Then it quit raining, in much of the state, from early August to October. That spelled disaster for the July-planted soybeans which were common this year because of spring rains that prevented planting.

Four weather stations in Missouri’s soybean-producing areas recorded less than a third of the normal September precipitation, according to the University of Missouri.

"Farmers who planted soybeans in July understood their crop was at risk," said Bill Wiebold, MU extension agronomist, in a news release Oct. 8. "But the degree of drought in August and September was highly unusual and impossible to predict."

In addition to crimping soybean yields, the August and September drought created a dearth of topsoil moisture, which is necessary for wheat germination. Hardest hit is central and east-central Missouri, where there was adequate moisture supply in just 9 percent of topsoil for the week ended Oct. 18. North-central and northwestern Missouri, with greater corn and soybean acreage, also suffered.

"It’s really dry. We’re harvesting soybeans at 9 percent moisture," said Wayne Flanary, extension agronomist in Holt County, northwestern Missouri. He said last week there was a good chance of rain, heading into the weekend.

The same weather pattern in east-central Missouri extended east of the Mississippi River, into southern Illinois and regions of western Kentucky and Tennessee. Driest are regions too far south and west to have received moisture from the fronts that caused widespread flooding in the Carolinas at the beginning of October.

Many wheat farmers, from Missouri to western Kentucky, were hoping for some rains last weekend. Producers that may be planting wheat late this year could benefit from higher seeding populations, according to University of Tennessee recommendations.

Target wheat populations are 1.2 million-1.5 million plants per acre, said Tyson Raper, UT agronomist.