4 years, 10 months ago Jim Dewey with Pike-Scott County Farm Bureau
The area's major rivers continue to fall thanks to several days without rain.
The drop in the levels of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers means a clearing of the drainage bottleneck south of Grafton. That in turn, allows the Illinois River to recede at a rate of about one foot every two days. And, that means that by Friday, the river will be below major flood stage at Valley City for the first time since May 5th.
River gauges along the Mississippi are also expected to fall below major flood stage this week. Several consecutive days without rain also means farmers in the area have been able to get crops planted. The USDA will release it's weekly Planting Progress report on Tuesday.
Last week's report showed the slowest planting progress for corn and soybeans in decades.
