Oregon Public Broadcasting

Sweet corn is generally supposed to grow knee high by the fourth of July. Oregon farmers say not this year. Amelia Templeton reports.

It's finally stopped raining, at least for a few days. Vicky Hertel sizes up a cornfield on her organic farm just outside Forest Grove. 

Vicky Hertel: "It should be knee high and dark black green. A plant every four inches. We're looking at plants that are spaced every two feet."

The past two months have been cold, with hardly any sun and too much rain. Lots of crops, like strawberries and summer squash, will need up to an extra month to mature. Almost no local corn will be available for the fourth of July.

Hertel says her farm won't have any until the end of August. And she worries she might lose her entire early crop.

Vicky Hertel: "Their lifespan is almost a month through. They could send out their tassel and put ears on at about two feet tall. And that the ears will be miniature and we'll just take the crop out."

The Oregon Farm Bureau says yields for many crops, like corn, alfalfa, and peas could be low this year.