20% of Iowa grain crop has been lost to flooding.

[Liberal_in_LA]

The drenching has also severely damaged the corn crop in America's No. 1 corn state and other parts of the Midwest at a time when corn prices are soaring.

Dave Miller, a grain farmer and director of research for the Iowa Farm Bureau, estimated that up to 1.3 million acres of corn and 2 million acres of soy beans -- about 20 percent of the state's overall grain crop -- had been lost to flooding.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/06/14/midwest.flooding.ap/index.html

[Xipe Totec]

How much is being lost to gasohol? nt

[DS1]

1. Holy shit.

[Tashca]

2. I know this isn't the point

But I don't believe that many acres have been lost just to flooding.....a very large share of those acres have been lost just because it never dried enough to plant in the first place. It is now too late for corn in Iowa.....but still a chance for planting and replanting of soybeans....if the rain ever stops. I would guess beans planted July first might make 40% yield.

[Debi]

3. Many fields were only ankle high when the floods hit

so much for 'knee-high by the fourth of July' Lots of teenagers w/out detasseling work this summer.

[Tashca]

4. It should be knee high by the fourth of June

At least here and to the south of here. Last year corn was easily knee high by the 4th of June and made a bumper crop. I work all over east central Iowa....very few fields were planted in good conditions this year.
Many of the more experienced farmers...(older...shh)...have been saying for over a month this was going to be a bad year. I don't think they envisioned this bad though.

[Debi]

5. the fields by the Debi home are all full of water

two of the fields usually get a little flooding from the Cedar River and the farmer just plants around the really wet areas.

[cliss]

6. I just heard on PBS radio that the figure of 3 million acres

under water seems to be correct. Wow, that's a lot of acreage to be at risk. The timing couldn't have been worse.

If there was ever a time that we needed those corn fields, it's now.

Now the farmer who was being interviewed said that "as long as the water recedes, we can try to replant". Meaning, they will plant another crop of corn as long as the water runs off.

But he said that they really don't have much time to replant. He said that if it goes past July 10, it's going to be too late for the crop to grow & mature. So he said the window of opportunity is rather small; only around 10 days.

10 days for the water to run off?
I'm not so sure about that.

[Tashca]

8. If it was planted by May 31st

In east central Iowa if the corn was planted by May 31st they will be covered by federal crop insurance....Soybeans by June 15th.
If they didn't get planted at all by these dates.....they come under delayed planting and could receive up to 60% of value of this years crop.
I am betting not much will get replanted. Why take the risk?

3 million acres???....I am still trying to get my head around that number. 3 million acres with a potential return of $600.00-$1000.00 an acre....that's a big number.

[Selatius]

7. This will only add more upward pressure to food price inflation. nt.

[jwirr]

9. The Farm Bureau figures may be correct but you need to be aware

that the FB is a conservative repug organization.