By John Seewer
The Associated Press

TOLEDO - This time, bad weather should help farmers, who are still smarting from last summer's drought.

A wet and rainy autumn followed by a cold and snowy winter has replenished the state's water table and should help keep down the bug population in fields this summer.

The freezing and thawing of the ground also should help keep the topsoil from becoming too hard and improves the soil structure, farmers say.

"Most people hate the snow, and for farmers it's not necessarily a bad thing," said Joe Cornely, a Ohio Farm Bureau spokesman.

Some farmers lost as much as half of their crop during a dry spell that was the worst in recent memory.

This year, the replenished water table should give farmers an extra few weeks of "hedging room" in case the earlier summer months are dry, said Jeff Rogers, Ohio's state climatologist and a professor at Ohio State University.

Still, the rest of the growing season will depend upon how much rain comes once planting begins.

Too much early rain could bring flooding and soggy fields. And normal rains in June and July help crops more than a recharged water table at planting time.

Statewide, cornfields had yields last year that were 36 percent less than the previous year, and soybean production dropped 27 percent.