REMER — Experts say spring storms negatively affected wild rice beds in Minnesota and will lead to significantly lower yields.

Rod Ustipak, a wild rice expert for the state Department of Natural Resources and Ducks Unlimited, manages the state’s wild rice program. He said that lakes in northern Minnesota will yield 75 percent less wild rice than they did last year. Heavy rainfall this spring drowned rice in lakes from Bemidji to the Canadian border. Places like Rainy Lake, Nature’s Lake and Winnibigoshish are among the most affected.

Ustipak said lakes in other parts of the state expect harvests that are 60 percent of what they were last year.

Ustipak said wild rice management isn’t an exact science because there aren’t any exact yield statistics, like there are for corn and wheat.