Illinois Farmers Give up on Planting After Floods, Throw Party Instead

State Highway 3 is swallowed up by flood water where the Marys River meets the Mississippi River at Chester, Ill., on May 30, 2019. Scott Olson/Getty Images

DEER GROVE, Ill.—The Happy Spot was a little depressed.

Dozens of corn farmers and those who sell them seed, chemicals, and equipment gathered on June 16 at the restaurant in Deer Grove, Illinois, after heavy rains caused unprecedented delays in planting this year and contributed to record floods across the central United States.