INDIANAPOLIS – Too much rain is one thing, but many Indiana farms are in danger of turning into ponds.

“When you start to see ducks in farm fields, you begin to think about Noah,” said Christ Hurt, an agricultural economist at Purdue University. “That’s when you know you’re having a bad year.”

Joking aside, Hurt and other economists are adding up damage from a month’s worth of record rain in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Just how bad is it for farmers?

Some areas of the state collected nearly 20 inches of rain in June. Normal for the month is 4.2 inches, according to the state Climate Office.

Economists say those rains have washed away more than $486 million worth of corn and soybeans, with crops either drowned or inaccessible.

The government closely tracks production of corn and soybeans – along with wheat. But crops not so closely watched are suffering, too.

Thousands of acres of melons, tomatoes and pumpkins are in peril. Purdue plant pathologist Dan Egel estimates nearly one-third may already be doomed.

“It’s been a disaster,” said farmer Brad Plank. About half of his 166 acres of Cass County tomatoes are inundated – and have been for days.

Like other weather weary farmers, Plank worries about disease spreading to the remaining crop.

It’s far too wet for him to go in to treat the soil for bacteria that’s flourishing with the rain, he said.

On Tuesday, his farmer’s sense of inherent optimism seemed to be fading as he talked about more rain headed his way, courtesy of Tropical Storm Bill, which was set to move out of the Gulf of Mexico and into the Upper Midwest.

“This is the worst I’ve seen in my life,” said Plank, now in his 15th year of farming on his family’s farm.

June was the fourth-wettest of any month on record since 1895, state climatologists said.

The soggy month produced an average of 9 inches of rain at 200 recording stations across the state, surpassing the previous June record of just over 8 inches, set in 1958.

While most of Indiana is awash in above-normal rainfall, areas in the north and south are hardest hit.

Steve Small worked well into the evening Monday to survey fields of farmers who grow about 8,000 acres of tomatoes for his employer, Red Gold. The Indiana-based company is the biggest producer of store-brand ketchup in the country.

Small said what he saw in worst-hit areas – including Cass, Grant, Madison, and Delaware counties — was discouraging even for farmers covered by crop insurance offered through his company.

“The farmers I know would rather produce a crop than not,” he said.

While losses are significant for some, it’s not a disaster for Red Gold, which also works with tomato farmers in Michigan and Ohio.

“We plant a lot more than what we need for our core products,” he said. “We’re the only tomato supplier for a lot of people, so we don’t ever want to run out of tomatoes.”

Still, he echoed worries about small farmers who sell fresh produce to local grocers and markets. That’s where consumers may see the biggest dent in supply – and increases in prices.

Torrential rains have caused havoc for small farmers who grow fruit and vegetable crops, said Purdue’s Egel.

Among the most vulnerable crops are cantaloupes and watermelons, which grow in abundance in southern Indiana.

Egel has been busy taking calls from desperate melon farmers whose plants are underwater.

“A lot of them will say, ‘I don’t want to be a melon-grower any more,’” he said.

Egel said about one-third of Indiana’s vegetables, including the popular sweet corn sold at roadside stands, could be lost due to rain and other problems related to over-saturated soil.

“I think we’re going to have a banner year for disease,” he said.

Purdue extension specialist Liz Maynard agreed that farmers have more to worry about than drowned plants.

If standing water doesn’t kill plants outright, it could stunt their growth since roots don’t work well in saturated soils.

As nutrients critical to plant growth are washed away, farmers must spend more money on additional nutrients – provided, of course, that conditions are dry enough.

“Even if conditions improve, crop growth may not catch up enough to produce a normal yield,” she said.

That concerns farmers like Plank, who is now looking with wariness upon a July forecast that calls for more above-normal precipitation and low temperatures.

“I guess if farming was easy,” he said, “everybody would be doing it.”

Maureen Hayden covers the Indiana Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach her at mhayden@cnhi.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaureenHayden.