PONTIAC - After Monday's rain, farmer Don Immke's youngest son said he knew he'd spend his spring break burning trash in the field. | Complete flood coverage

Floodwater near Pontiac has created ponds in farmland that will push soybean residue and corn stalks to one side of the field, possibly in piles 8 to 10 inches deep, said Don Immke, who lives in Pontiac and farms southeast of Saunemin. Normally, a farmer will use his equipment to work the ground before spring planting, but with so much rain, Immke said he'll need to burn the crop residue layer by layer.

"It needs to be taken care of before you can do your tillage work," Immke said. "It's really kind of an aggravation."

For the most part, Livingston County farmers only should experience some similar inconveniences from the excessive amount of rain earlier this week that flooded fields and overflowed the Vermilion River.

If a farm area is going to have extra moisture, winter is the best time of the year for it, said Marion Shier, crops system educator with the University of Illinois Extension Livingston County Unit.

"You don't have the corn and beans in the field," Shier said. "You also don't have the mature crop sitting in the field and likely to fall over."

However, farmers who grow winter wheat likely will suffer the most because they could experience some crop loss if water sits in the field too long, Shier said.

Other concerns include erosion and flooding in rural homes, he said.

The biggest issue for most farmers probably will be in areas where erosion occurred, said Teresa Grant-Quick, manager for the Livingston County Farm Bureau in Pontiac.

The water's current could mean some waterways may need to be reseeded with new grass seed, she said.

Farmers who leave corn stubble in the field after harvest may have a little extra field work in the spring before planting, too, she said.

Another uncertainty at this point is whether farmers will suffer from nitrogen loss in their fields, Immke said.

"The farmer doesn't like to lose it from the cost standpoint, plus the ecology standpoint," Immke said.

A continued wet season could delay planting season in the spring, but it's too early to be worried now, Shier said.

"We're still far enough away from planting season," he said.