North Dakota and South Dakota corn growers stand to lose $2.3 billion as a result of planting delays, according to WeatherBill, a weather insurance and risk management firm headquartered in San Francisco, Calif.

The company calculates that between 206 million and 341 million bushels of corn are at risk in the Dakotas as a result of planting delays. The yield loss equates to between $1.4 billion and $2.3 billion.

Much of the Cornbelt is in the same situation. WeatherBill says between 834 million and 1.6 billion bushels of corn are at risk nationally – a loss of yield that could equate to between $5.8 billion and $11.2 billion, depending on how quickly planting progresses as fields dry.

The company calculates that between 206 million and 341 million bushels of corn are at risk in the Dakotas as a result of planting delays.

Based on a comparison of the best and worst planting seasons, states experiencing delayed planting as a result of the excessive wet spring conditions are already on track to lose more than $5.8 billion in crop revenue.

States that have been the hardest hit represent more than 60% of the nation's corn-growing acreage. They include Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Illinois experienced the rainiest April since 1895 and the Ohio Valley region had its wettest April on record. Wisconsin is having the third wettest spring the state has experienced in the last 30 years.

Below is a breakdown of WeatherBill's report indicating the best and worst case scenarios for revenue tied to corn yield. The low loss year column represents the shortest or fastest planting season in recent years.  The high loss year model represents the slowest planting season, or the one in which growers experienced the greatest delays.

The follow are the figures for individual states:

Best and worst case scenarios for top 12 Corn Belt states.

WeatherBill offers Total Weather Insurance policies, which provide coverage over and above federal crop insurance. A TWI Excessive Early Season Rainfall – policy automatically compensates growers for the weather events that can cause yield losses they will face later in the season as a result of not getting the crop planted during the ideal planting period.

"U.S. growers are more than capable of planting quickly in less than ideal conditions to generate high yields," said Jeff Hamlin, director of agronomic research for WeatherBill. "With higher yields comes higher risk.  WeatherBill expects that over 50 percent of TWI policyholders across the Midwest will receive payment from WeatherBill in the upcoming weeks for Excessive Early Season Rainfall and two thirds of policyholders whose Early Season coverage periods have concluded have already received checks triggered by this season's weather events. Growers didn't even need to file a claim. WeatherBill monitors all weather data and sends payments to growers automatically." Says Jeff Hamlin, director of agronomic research for WeatherBill.

The methodology used to compile the Weather Financial Impact Report, relies on local university research analysis from each of the top 12 corn producing states to determine the potential number of bushels of corn produced in those states that would be at risk as a result of delayed planting. WeatherBill evaluated historical data from each state indicating the percentage of acres of corn planted by the week of May 9 of a given year – both the highest and the lowest percentage years – and compared each set of numbers to the current $7 a bushel commodity price at the time of the May 9 planting reports and the average bushels of corn potentially produced by each state. 

For more information, see www.weatherbill.com/2011season.

Source: WeatherBill