A boot would sink in the field it was so wet. Cody Mitchell watched the drone hover above, readying to spray a dose of plant-growth regulator over the top of cotton in need of it.

One of the wettest Mays in recent memory hit south-central Georgia this planting season, followed by one of the hottest Junes with little rain. And then came heavy downpours in July.

Mitchell is the farm manager at the Sunbelt Ag Expo in Moultrie.

“It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster ride. We tried to start getting everything in the ground in May. But from May 1 to May 15, we had 13 inches of rain here on this farm,” he said on July 11.

Planting ran until the very end of May. Mitchell grows corn, cotton, peanuts and pasture on the expo’s 600-acre farm.

Since May 1, he said, the farm and surrounding region have received 25-plus inches of rain, with only two to three inches in falling June. With several stretches of 100-degree days, area farmers had to crank the pivots hard that month.

“We need to be in the field, but we can’t. We're spraying all of our crops with a drone right now. This cotton needs Pix on it. The peanuts need fungicides. We need to get the last little bit of herbicide out on these crops,” he said.

The Sunbelt Ag Expo takes place Oct. 15-17.

“Right now, despite all the rain we've had and all the obstacles, the cotton and the peanuts are both looking great right now. Both of those crops will still be here in the fields on the farm during our show in October. We would love for everybody to come out, tour the farm and see us during the expo this year in October,” Mitchell said.

According to the USDA July 22 Crop Progress and Condition Report, 20% of Georgia’s corn crop was in poor to very poor condition, 10% of the cotton was in poor to very poor condition, 10% of the peanut crop was in poor to very poor condition and 40% of pastures were in poor to very poor condition.