What about the corn fields?

[Catherine Vincent]

I know the people are flooded out of their homes but what about the corn fields? Unless it's Nebraska I'm thinking about.

[phantom power]

1. The corn fields have been fucked up:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=115&topic_id=155028&mesg_id=155028

[Warpy]

2. There have been ample pictures of flooded corn fields

in the eastern half of Iowa. Some fields will produce a smaller harvest; others are pretty much ruined. It all depends on how soon the water recedes and how fortunate the weather is from now on.

Next year, those fields will be even more fertile. There's a reason flood plain land is the best for agriculture.

[Catherine Vincent]

3. Really?

Thanks. I didn't know that.

[MadHound]

6. Maybe, maybe not

Normally, with a relatively clean river, the scenario you describe would be spot on. The trouble is that none of these flooding rivers is anywhere near clean. Officials in Iowa were describing last night how worried they are about the massive amounts of gas and other petroleum products, along with fertilizer and other chemicals that are now in the water system.

Depending where the fields are and what's coming downstream, they could potentially be rendered sterile for a few years:shrug:

[Tashca]

12. I disagree

The large majority of land here in eastern Iowa is certainly not flood plain.

Flooding of any soil upsets soil biology...the longer it is saturated or flooded the more soil life that is killed. It does not come back immediately and I would argue will not be more productive.

[madrchsod]

4. wisconsin is losing a large percentage of the vegetable crops

in parts of southern wisconsin. the extent of the loss will not be known for another week or so.

hay and other feed stock crops are another commodity that is in question. it`s not good in southern wisconsin

[MadHound]

5. Even without the floods, corn was going to be in short supply this year throughout the Midwest

The very heavy rains that we've had out here have cut way back on the amount of corn, or other crops, being planted. It's simply been too wet to get out into the fields. Corn has been pretty much out of the picture for a month now, other farmers are going to be planting soybeans as soon as it dries out, others are going to either hay their fields or let them lie fallow.

All this adds up to food prices increasing throughout the upcoming year, sorry.

[ieoeja]

8. Last time there was a big flood along the Mississippi, it did not impact prices at all.

That was when I learned that the law of supply and demand is a crock of shit. I asked a commodities trader about it at the time and he said the only thing that affects prices is what the people doing the buying feel like spending.

When Republicans campaigned against Ethanol on the grounds it would increase prices, and environmentalists made it a bipartisan belief, the speculators saw a chance to jack up the prices. So jack them up they did.

Rather like oil prices right now. The disruption in Iraqi oil production has been more than offset by increased production elsewhere. So there is absolutely no reason for what we are seeing today aside from the Texas speculators see a chance to screw us over.

And, again, environmentalists are going along with this since it helps them achieve their aim of getting people to stop using oil.

[Frustratedlady]

7. Not only is there a possibility of contamination from the oils/gas and

insecticides/feedlot runoff, etc. on today's fields and crops, but many of the farmers had stored last year's corn/soybeans and were unable to get them out of the bins, or if they could get them out, had no place that was dry to store the grain. So, you lose this year's crop plus last year's crop.

Not a promising picture.

[tjwash]

9. Damn, I'm glad I grow my own food.

It's been nucking futs price-wise at the grocery store, and it's only going to get worse.

I started 4 years ago in a community garden, and then, after I realized what great exercise and fun it was, tore up the back yard after I got a 135 dollar water bill, and wondered why the hell am was wasting that much a month dumping it on the ground to keep fucking grass green.

Now we grow everything that we eat, and can and preserve the rest. Everyone out here in California is griping about the tomato thing, and I have about fifty jars of them in our garage.

The corn in the back yard is starting to look pretty good too.

[cliss]

10. One word: stock pile.

Just imagine what's going to happen in countries which import US corn products. Like Mexico and other Latin American countries. They've already had rioting when corn prices went through the roof a few years ago. That was not even close to what's coming now.

Expect rioting in the streets, absolute mayhem.

[Tashca]

11. The rain and the cool weather are the bigger problem

In Iowa we have been in a wetter and cooler pattern since about Thanksgiving. Most areas had record or near record snowfall. Then the spring continued wet and cool. We never really got dried out. The recent deluge of rain obviously ran off instead of soaking into the saturated soil. Thus massive flooding.
Most people think this just happened.....this has been setting up since late last fall.

I was looking for statistics and can't find them right now. A low percentage of farmland in Iowa is flood plain. The majority of the bottom land is along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. Most of the easily flooded ground is in forest...and farmed as forest. The next most easily flooded has a good percentage put into the conservation reserve for a return to wildlife habitat. There is still most farmed and that land is probably some of the cheapest to buy because of the risk of not getting a crop from year to year.....and of course you can't build there.

The damage this year has come from saturated soil that haven't been planted...late planted...or have had ponding on the productive prairie soils.