Published: June 10, 2008 11:19 pm         

Floods have farmers scrambling with crops

TERRE HAUTE — The weekend’s flash flooding dealt a blow to area farmers, many of whom now face acres and acres of farmland saturated or sitting under water.

Once the fields dry out, it likely will be too late to plant corn, agricultural experts said Tuesday. This will cause many farmers to switch from corn to soybeans or fall back on crop insurance or even disaster relief, they said.

Even before Saturday’s flash flooding and Tuesday’s additional rain, many area farmers were already behind schedule from earlier rain, said Amanda Bailey, extension educator with the Purdue Extension office in Vermillion County.

“We’ve been talking about late planting for two weeks before this rain, so this really was not the icing on the cake,” Bailey said.

Last year by this time, 100 percent of Indiana’s corn crop was planted, Bailey said. As of this week, just 94 percent of this year’s crop was planted, and some of that is now in danger because of standing water in fields, she said.

The rain is affecting corn prices as well. Expectations of lower yields drove corn futures prices to a record $7.20 per bushel Tuesday and, also on Tuesday, the United States Department of Agriculture revised its forecast for national corn production downward by 3 percent.

But higher corn prices will not help farmers who cannot plant this year because of recent flooding.

“It’s going to affect them financially if they don’t get a crop,” said Kathleen Dutro, media relations specialist for the Indiana Farm Bureau in Indianapolis. Many farmers may still be able to switch from corn to soybeans, she added.

“We definitely don’t need any more rain,” Bailey said. Even before the recent flooding, some central Indiana crops were already damaged by straight line winds and tornadoes. “So all of these things combined are obviously not good,” she said.

Young cornstalks can survive up to four days under water if the weather is cool, Bailey said. If it’s hot, the stalks will die sooner, she said. Also, corn plants that have been submerged in fields are weaker and more susceptible to disease, she said.

About two-thirds of the farmers affected by recent flooding have crop insurance, said Jim Rink, director of farm and crop insurance for Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance. The other third may receive federal or state emergency payments, “but there is certainly no guarantee,” he said.

Farmers are encouraged to buy crop insurance, which is subsidized by the federal government up to about one half of the premium, Rink said. Farmers are told not to rely on emergency payments, but noted he would not be surprised if government leaders offered payments.

As of Tuesday, 300 farmers had filed water-related crop loss claims with Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance, Rink said. The company has 2,000 crop insurance clients, he said.

In addition to lost crops, a lot of expensive farm machinery was damaged by the recent flooding, Rink said. “There is $250,000 farm equipment underwater” right now, he said.

Even if farmers wanted to plant corn or soybeans right now, the saturated fields mean they cannot, Bailey said. “Farmers have to sit on their heels even though they want to replant, they can’t,” she said.

Livestock farmers also are affected by the flooding, Bailey noted. The higher cost of animal feed, which uses soybeans and corn, will likely drive some farmers to cut back on herd sizes, she said.

Whatever happens, agricultural experts expect Hoosier farmers to pull through. “It’s a rough year but they’ll get through it,” Bailey said. “They’ve dealt with it before, they’ll deal with it now.”

Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.