USDA estimates $15 million in damages to Rock County crops
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JANESVILLE — Rock County farmers will lose $15 million in crops damaged by flooding, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates.
The vast majority of the loss will be in corn, Assistant County Administrator Phil Boutwell said Wednesday.
Some producers said it will mean a dent in grain for their cattle, and UW Extension Agent Jim Stute said it’s not likely any of the fields can be replanted.
“This (flood) is pretty monumental,” Stute said. “The last year it was like this was 1993. We’ve had other years where we’ve gotten rain in June, but the ground wasn’t so saturated to begin with.”
Losses are based on the number of damaged acres and the assumption yields are going to be down in others, Boutwell said. Some fields were never planted because they were too wet, said Judy Schambow, Rock County Farm Services Agency director.
-- Corn: Of 161,000 acres planted, 10,000 acres have been damaged, Boutwell said. That amounts to $10.5 million lost.
-- Soybeans: Of 68,000 acres planted, 6,800 were damaged, Boutwell said. That’s a loss of $4.4 million.
Other losses were in wheat and alfalfa, Boutwell said.
The acres planted are based on 2007 Farm Service Agency numbers, Schambow said. The type of crops planted varies little from year to year in Rock County, she said.
If Rock County is declared a disaster area, producers could qualify for emergency federal loans or other federal money, Schambow said.
This growing season is the opposite of last year, when June was dry, Stute said. That forced plants to grow strong root systems to fight for limited water supplies and made them strong when fields were pounded with water in August.
When it’s this wet, plants don’t have to “go chasing water,” Stute said. That could mean a weak root system.
John Crull, who farms near Evansville, lost about 65 percent of 140 acres of corn on a field along Highway 14, he said.
Crull doesn’t care as much about getting federal money as he does about feeding his 60 milking cows, young stock and 100 hogs.
“I need the feed. But it’s not like going to the cupboard,” he said about having to buy feed.
Don Bollerud farms land in Union and Center townships. He has one field with 36 acres of corn destroyed and another with 30 acres of soybeans destroyed. It’s too wet and too late to replant any acres, Bollerud said.
“It would just be a waste of input money,” he said.
Bollerud doesn’t ever remember flooding this bad.
“I’ve been here all my life, except when I went to Korea,” Bollerud said. “I’ve never seen this, like it is this year. But I think farmers are used to it—the ups and downs.”
Jun 20, 2008 at 7:41 a.m.
Suggest removal
The flooding of the Mississippi has destroyed thousands of acres of farmland in Iowa, and many are predicting poor yields on much of the prime corn growing land in Iowa. This has all had major impact at the CBOT with speculators. Corn futures are now around an unprecedented $7.50 a bushel!
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This huge run up has got very little media attention, with all the focus being on the spike in crude oil, that is driving up gas prices. This spike in corn is actually bigger (% wise) then the crude oil run up, and it will (is all ready) going to have major impacts in food costs.
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