By SHELLY STRAUTZ-SPRINGBORN
Michigan Correspondent

GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — Western Michigan farmers watched while their crops became submerged in floodwaters, as storms last weekend drenched the area with 4-12 inches of rain.
As much as a foot of rain fell over parts of Allegan, Barry, Kent and Ottawa counties June 6-8, forming ponds in corn, soybean, fruit and vegetable fields. “Ponding” water eventually causes suffocation of crops, according agricultural experts.
“The water table is pretty much as the surface level right now,” said Adam Kantrovich, Michigan State University extension director for Ottawa County. “The ground is just saturated. That means any additional moisture just sits there.”
Farmers and agricultural experts are working together to assess damages and estimate crop losses, with reports of some loss of corn, soybean and vegetable crops (see related story). According to Kantrovich, corn planting in the area was running about two weeks behind normal, so the crop isn’t as mature as it would have been. That could prove to be beneficial, in light of the amount of rainwater with which farmers are dealing.
“In some of our heavier pockets, we have acreage that started receiving ponding of water around midnight Saturday (June 7),” Kantrovich said. “There are still fields with water.”
Air and soil temperature, plant maturity and the amount of time the plants stand in water all contribute to crop loss, he said.
“You have about a 48-hour time period when oxygen has been depleted, that you slowly begin to kill off your corn,” Kantrovich said. “For those individuals who are affected, it’s bad. They are already looking for seed.”
Kantrovich said, however, he isn’t estimating any massive losses countywide for corn and soybeans. “At this point, I would estimate a 5 to 10 percent loss in grain,” he said.
Bill Robb, Ottawa County extension district dairy educator, has toured the region and reported that the area south of Coopersville received 8-12 inches of rain over the last week and the area north got 4-5 inches over the weekend.
“The north areas have small ponds in low areas of fields like an average year after heavy rains, with the likelihood of little replanting,” Robb said. “The area from Grand Haven south to Benton Harbor was wet all spring and delayed in planting until end of May, so that crop was small and more susceptible to flooding to begin with.
“Again, the crops above water have saturated soils and several weeks will be needed to tell how they survive, or potential yield loss. It will be at least a week before many fields could be worked. Again, some of this ground along the lake (Lake Michigan) is clay and will not dry out fast.”
Paul Wiley, Allegan County extension director, is seeing similar effects in his area, which received an average of 5-8 inches of rainfall during the same time period.
“The length of time it stood on these smaller crops would indicate that there probably is going to be loss,” Wiley said.
Wiley said replanting corn in his area is probably not likely. “It’s late enough now; by the time it dries out and farmers can get back in the fields, the replant option for corn is pretty much gone unless they can chop it for silage,” he said.
He estimated approximately 3-5 percent of the corn and soybean crops would be lost in his area. While that sounds minimal, Wiley said it doesn’t take many acres of $6-$7 per-bushel corn lost to equal millions of dollars in total crop loss.
Another concern for Wiley is the threat of disease in wheat.
“Wheat was flowering last week,” he said. “To have a lot of rain, humidity and high temperatures certainly sets the table for fusarium head scab. A lot of fields were sprayed for protection. We’ll probably know in the next week what the impact will be.”
Blain Becktold, executive director of the Ottawa County Farm Service Agency, said he expects farmers to be eligible for “some kind of disaster program” as part of the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments Program (SURE), one of five new disaster programs under the new Farm Bill.
“Right now, the deadline is August 20 to sign up for it,” Becktold said. “There will be an administrative fee, but we don’t have many other details yet.”
He suggested farmers contact their local FSA office for additional information. “We’ll have a loss adjuster here next week to start doing some assessment for us,” Becktold said. “It will be a couple of weeks before we know the full extent of damage and losses.”