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Iowa flooding claims 3 million crop acres

By DOUG SCHMITZ
Iowa Correspondent

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — After touring the state’s most flood-ravaged areas, Iowa Gov. Chet Culver said damage from last week’s historic floods could reach into the billions of dollars, with massive floodwaters already claiming nearly 1.3 million corn acres and up to 2 million acres of soybeans across Iowa, the nation’s leading corn and soybean producer.
“To see the devastation out there is heartbreaking, certainly, given the fact that we know how hard our farmers work to get those crops in the ground,” Culver said at a news conference in Cedar Rapids June 13.
Referred to as the city’s “500-year flood,” Cedar Rapids so far has suffered the most damage, with more than 25,000 residents being forced to evacuate their homes around the downtown and low-plain areas, which Culver said is far worse than the floods of 1993.
Property damage to city homes is currently estimated at $376 million, and could reach a total of $1 billion for the entire city, which included the business district in the city’s flood-ravaged downtown area. President Bush has declared 83 of Iowa’s 99 counties as national disaster areas. In addition, the Cedar River, whose levee broke early the morning of June 12, flooding 19 feet above flood stage into the downtown and surrounding areas, crested the following day. As early as June 13, however, the floodwaters started dropping more quickly than city and state officials thought, and are expected to completely retreat to the Cedar River by June 24.
According to the USDA’s March forecast, Iowa farmers were expected to plant 13.2 million acres of corn and 9.8 million acres of soybeans this year. In 2007, Iowa farmers grew 2.368 billion bushels of corn – nearly one-fifth of the U.S. crop – and 439 million bushels of soybeans. But loss of more than 3 million acres would translate into a 20 percent loss for the state, said Dave Miller, a southern Iowa grain farmer and director of research and commodity services at the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation (IFBF).
“It is certainly comparable to (19)93,” Miller said. “But, there were more acres that never got planted in ’93 than this year. Although the floods came later in ’93, it was wet throughout the whole planting season and a lot of ground was never fit to plant.
“This year, most of the corn and a significant portion of the soybeans were planted when the floods hit. Farmers have already put a lot of resources into a crop that is now underwater.”
While the higher crests on some rivers could make things much worse for Iowa farmers, Miller said “six inches of water on a small corn or soybean plant can kill it the same as six feet of water.” Now, he said, the big question is whether to replant after the floodwaters dissipate. “If it quits raining and the floodwaters recede, it’ll take seven to 10 drying days before they are able to replant,” he said. “If that happens, farmers can plant short-season corn – a faster maturing corn – as late as June 25, 26.”
To date, Iowa has 25 million tillable acres, 16 percent of which are underwater. “How much of an impact the potential loss has also depends on the flooding of other states,” Miller said. “Meanwhile, wheat growers in the U.S. and globally have responded to higher prices and are set to harvest large crops. Given time for farms to respond to higher prices, food supplies will expand.”
While touring flooded fields in Creston last Friday, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey told a group of reporters that a lot of fields in the state aren’t yet planted. “We have about two percent of the corn – which doesn’t sound like a lot, but in Iowa that still mounts up – that have not been planted; about 14 percent of the soybeans that have not been planted,” he said. “About seven percent of the corn, six percent of the soybeans have been drowned out.”
Livestock farmers are facing astronomical challenges as a result of the floods. Last week, the Iowa Pork Producers Assoc. requested hog farmers to help identify empty buildings that could possibly be used for the relocation of hogs and pigs. Northey is also asking the state’s livestock farmers to seek care for their livestock during the flooding that’s now affecting the entire state.
“We continue to hear stories of farmers going to amazing lengths to ensure their animals are cared for, and as the floodwaters make their way downstream, they are going to impact even more producers,” he said.
“Floodwater, washed-out bridges and damaged roads may make it difficult to reach some areas with livestock, so I encourage folks to monitor reports so they aren’t caught off-guard.”
Last week’s massive flooding also forced Tyson Foods, Inc. to temporarily suspend slaughter operations at its Columbus Junction-based pork plant.
As part of a congressional delegation, Iowa senators Charles Grassley and Tom Harkin toured flood-ravaged eastern and north-central Iowa counties in an Iowa National Guard helicopter, alongside Culver and FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison.
Both senators said the international impact of Iowa’s crop losses to the floods in the domestic and foreign markets could be far-reaching. As of mid-afternoon June 13, December corn futures peaked to $7.65 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, up more than 25 cents from the day before.
The Iowa State University extension service will be holding a series of emergency management meetings in Johnson, Linn and Washington counties within the next couple of weeks to help farmers cope with the flood aftermath. Contact those offices to learn more.

6/18/2008