ADEL (AP) – Farmers say weeks of wet weather are taking a toll on Iowa’s fruit and berry crops.

Kathy Lewis of Berry Fresh Farm in Adel said the berry season looked very promising at first, and even started two weeks early this year, but the repeated rains are causing rot and mold.

Lewis said a lot of the farm’s strawberries are drowning in puddles and have started to rot.

The farm has lost more than half of its strawberry crop, while the black raspberries are dying from the saturated ground that’s causing root rot. The red raspberries that grow higher off the ground are battling mold.

Lewis said the only way to keep mold from spreading is to spray the fields, which is a last resort.