By James Hannah
The Associated Press

WABASH, Ohio - In Leo Post's cornfield near this western Ohio village, a few wispy, stunted stalks of corn stand in large patches of bare ground where crops were washed out by the heavy rains of July.

The few ears of corn left in the Mercer County field are tiny, moldy and gap-toothed.

Flooding claimed 75 percent of Post's corn crop and half of his soybean crop.

"This is the worst year," Post said.

Eighteen miles to the south, Mike and Don Guggenbiller look up at their four towering grain-filled storage bins and smile. The two brothers harvested a record amount of corn and soybeans on their 800-acre farm.

"This is probably the best we did," said Mike Guggenbiller.

A record corn crop and near-record soybean crop is being predicted in Ohio. And while some farmers enjoyed their best year, they don't have to go far to find neighbors who had their worst, thanks to Mother Nature.

"You had some terrible, terrible extremes of weather in Mercer County," said Mike Pullins, vice president of business services for the Ohio Farm Bureau.

But Pullins said most Ohio farmers are pleased with this year's yields and pleasantly surprised in the wake of last year's drought. He said there was enough moisture to grow a good corn crop and cool temperatures in July, when they were needed to help the corn pollinate.

The Ohio Agricultural Statistics Service predicts that Ohio farmers will harvest an average of 154 bushels of corn an acre and 41 bushels of soybeans this year.

That would eclipse the record 147 bushels of corn harvested in 2000 and approach the record 44 bushels of soybeans collected in 1998.

Those with big yields stand to benefit from increased prices this year.

Farmers are getting $2.33 a bushel for corn and $7.22 for soybeans. Last year at this time, it was about $1.80 for corn, and soybeans were going for less than $5 a bushel.