SPRINGFIELD — Local corn growers expect lower yields this year due to unprecedented delays in the planting season caused by unrelenting spring rains.

Only 5 percent to 10 percent of corn was tasseling Wednesday, whereas about 85 percent of the corn crop would now be tasseling during a normal growing season, according to Harold Watters, an ag agent with the OSU Extension-Champaign County.

Nationally, however, corn supplies are projected to be higher than expected this fall. A bigger crop would ease concerns of a grain shortage and could slow food inflation later this year.

The U.S. Agriculture Department said that 880 million bushels of corn will be left over when the harvest begins. That’s an increase from the previous estimate of 730 million acres.

“Thankfully, we have offset (lower yields) with higher corn acres,” Watters said.

The late planting will also likely result in a late local harvest, possibly lasting through Thanksgiving, and could cause a harvest loss due to a host of problems, according to Watters. Normal harvest time is August through September.

But, he said, November is sometimes the best harvest month.

Champaign County corn, soybean and wheat grower Mike Terry said he was able to get 500 of his 1,200 acres planted with corn, the latest on June 2 in fields on East Ohio 29 in Concord Twp. He also expects a later harvest and lower yields.

By comparison, that corn crop is 2- to 3-feet shorter than a corn crop planted about two weeks before in fields along Pisgah Road in Clark County. Terry, a seventh generation family farmer, is a committee person on the Champaign County Farm Bureau and supervisor on the Champaign Soil and Water Conservation District board.

Corn growers will also likely have to contend with wet corn in such a late harvest. “We anticipate having to dry corn,” Watters said. Farmers would probably absorb the cost of propane to dry the grain, he said.

Higher corn prices led farmers nationwide to plant the second biggest corn crop this year since World War II.

More expensive grain has led to food price increases this year. It could ultimately make everything from beef to cereal to soft drinks more expensive at the supermarket. For all of 2011, the USDA predicts food prices will rise 3 percent to 4 percent.

News of the big corn crop brought down global corn prices 20 percent over the last month. A huge harvest in August could ultimately slow food inflation. It typically takes six months for changes in commodity prices to affect retail food prices in the U.S. Analysts say consumers could see some relief at the supermarket by early 2012.

Farmers saw corn futures rise, so they switched their acreage into corn from other crops like soybeans. The size of this year’s corn crop will be 92.3 million acres, about 9 percent larger than the average annual corn crop over the past decade. The only crop bigger in the past 67 years was planted in 2007.

Rising futures made it feasible for local farmers to gamble on planting corn past the June 5 crop insurance cutoff, according to Watters. Crop insurance protection declines after that date and farmers normally would plant a different crop such as soybeans instead.

Farmers chose to plant corn at the expense of this year’s soybean crop. They planted only 75.2 million acres of soybeans, about 3 percent less than last year. Farmers have a limited supply of good farmland and usually trade one crop for another on their acreage.

Higher corn prices make soybeans and wheat more expensive because farmers plant less of them.

The price of corn is a driver for food inflation because the crop is an ingredient in feed for poultry and livestock, and a staple in many processed foods. When corn prices rise, food processors and grocers pass along the higher costs to the consumer.

A bigger crop doesn’t guarantee lower food prices. A drought or flood could limit the size of the harvested crop. Many of the acres planted this spring were on marginal land that won’t yield much grain. Many farmers planted during wet weather just because they knew they could get the crops insured.

Local fields are a little dry, according to Watters. “It would be nice to have an inch of rain per week for the rest of the growing season,” he said.

Despite adverse conditions, farmers will adapt to, as they always do. “They’ll get as good a crop as they can,” Watters said.

The Associated Press contributed this story.