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Producers might benefit from the $3.8 billion disaster fund that is part of the 2008 farm law. Farmers must have crop insurance to qualify for the program.

We have all watched with utter dismay and compassion as Midwest storms and torrential rains have killed at least 24 people since late May. Almost 40,000 people have been driven from their homes, mostly in Iowa where 83 of 99 counties have been declared Federal disaster areas.

In Iowa, Governor Chet Culver has established a task force to help look at the best ways to help residents and business clean and rebuild, for those who choose to rebuild. Agents and agencies have had to work in flooded areas and met the challenges of doing so (see page 38 in this issue). In the coming months sewage-filled streets and contaminated wells must be cleaned up, levees restored, and damaged roads and bridges rebuilt.

But the losses will have a greater impact than in the Midwest alone. Farmers are looking at millions of acres of prime crop land that have been ruined and much of that will be a total loss as it is too late to replant. Food will cost more as the nation’s breadbasket has been hit hard this summer and stock market trading will reflect the crop losses as well. Consumers will see it in the price they pay for food in the supermarkets.

Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio — all hit by damaging spring storms — agreed on June 17 to work together to maximize aid, according to one Associated Press story (see page 10 in this issue). According to the story, “In Illinois, corn was a foot tall on average this week, half its usual height and an indication of how a cold, wet spring is slowing crop development.” And that observation doesn’t include the corn drowned by flooding.

Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said producers might benefit from the $3.8 billion disaster fund that is part of the 2008 farm law. Farmers must have crop insurance to qualify for the program. Payments would be based on average crop prices for this year’s crops. Payout would be in 2009, officials say.

What will happen to those farmers without crop insurance? How long will it take for some farmers to recover and will some just give up and stop farming? Many experts say we won’t know just how bad all of this news is until harvest time in the fall. My guess is that a whole new appreciation of the importance of Midwest farmers and their land will possibly emerge by the time the fall hits. And that’s not a bad thing.

Topics Flood Agribusiness