Posted on 07/27/2008 7:11:28 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
WAUSAU, WI -- The torrential rain and flooding that hit southern Wisconsin this summer, destroying tens of millions of dollars worth of farm crops, had a least one silver lining -- soil erosion was not a major problem, farm experts say.
"We found the fields that had conservation tillage and residue management no-till surprisingly have very little damage," said Don Baloun, a farm conservationist for the U.S. Agriculture Department's Natural Resource Conservation Service in Madison. "What happened is the crop that was planted is a complete loss."
Added Susan Butler, a conservation specialist for USDA's Farm Service Agency in Wisconsin, "We expected a lot more erosion than most people are seeing out there."
The number of farmland acres harmed by erosion and a dollar amount of damage was not available from either USDA's Wisconsin offices nor from the state Department of Agriculture. Some states, like Indiana, suffered serious losses.
Wisconsin has more diversified farming with livestock, requiring more hay fields than some other Midwest states, thus cutting down the potential for erosion, Baloun said.
Baloun's agency estimated that flooding caused about $2.8 million worth of damage to conservation structures in the state, such as dams, levees, ditches and waterways.
For individual landowners, the biggest problem was heavy deposits of sand and sediment on the land and debris, such as boulders and trees, flooded onto the land, Baloun said.
"You are looking at a foot of sand in one spot and 2 inches in another spot, depending on how far away it is from the stream," he said. "We don't design practices for 8 inches of rain in five hours. So we are going to receive some damage."
For fields with large deposits of sand from flooding, the solution is to till it into the soil and plant a cover crop, Baloun said. "You never completely rebuild the soil. It takes a lifetime to create good organic soils."
Still, the land should be productive again by the next growing season, he said.
Jane Larson, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Agriculture, said her agency has made no estimate of total crop losses in Wisconsin, in part because farmers have until August to report crop losses.
"Yes, this is going to put some farmers in a financial bind. How many? That is a good question," she said.
A survey of University of Wisconsin-Extension farm agents in 26 counties found four reported they lost 21 percent to 40 percent of the corn crop and two reported they lost 21 percent to 40 percent of the soybean crop, said Joel Bollman, Jefferson County's farm agent.
Ron Tauchen, deputy director of USDA's Agricultural Statistics Service in Wisconsin, said late June surveys suggest at least 70,000 acres of soybean crops were lost due to flooding but the amount of corn acreage wiped out was more difficult to determine.
The surveys found farmers expect to harvest 4.7 million acres of corn and soybeans this fall, compared with about 4.6 million acres a year ago, despite the flooding, he said.
"Because of the higher grain prices, we are seeing more acres planted to grains and less acres to hay and pasture," he said.
Farmers in Jefferson County, one of the hardest-hit counties where up to 14 inches of rain fell in 36 hours, lost about 51,000 acres of corn and soybeans out of 128,000 acres that were planted, much of it along the Rock and Crawfish rivers, Bollman said.
One vegetable grower lost 90 percent of the 4,000 acres had planted, Bollman said.
The farm agent estimated crop losses in his county alone totaled nearly $45 million.
Juan Edwards lost 1,500 acres of corn and soybeans at his rural Waterloo farm in Jefferson County when the Crawfish River flooded the land with up to 4 feet of water; 800 acres survived.
"There is not a whole lot you can do about it. What can you do? We have no insurance," the 63-year-old farmer said. "I have lived here all my life. We have never had anything like this. The last time we had a flood I still averaged 100 bushels (of corn) on some of my worst fields. That you can live with but nothing like this."
At a minimum, he's lost nearly $700,000, Edwards said.
The flooded land, which was not damaged, will sit idle for the season as it got too late to replant, the farmer said.
"You always got to look at the positive side. The land is going to be out of production for one year. Anything that is fallowed for one year, you normally have better crops next year," Edwards said. "I know all the fertilizer is not gone."
So, basically, even with ALL of the flooding and cr@ppy weather this spring, we're going to have BUMPER CROPS! Go figure! ;)
EnviroNatzies are DEEPLY saddened. Grant money to "study" erosion, along with their navels, DRIES up all across the land!
Dorks.
I just got home from a trip to Wisconsin Dells. That empty lake is quite a site. Wonder when/if they expect to get it filled back up.
Crop rotation was all the rage during Charlemagne’s reign in the 700’s. The Egyptians, of course, where spared the necessity of learning this lesson. They had new, fertile topsoil delivered yearly with the inundation.
They’re working on it now (patching Hwy A where the breech occurred) and will start filling it come next Spring. I’m sure the 100” of snow we’ll have again this winter will help. ;)
Actually, that would be an awesome thing to do! We could all shovel our driveways and load the snow up on our trucks, drive it up to Lake Delton and dump it in!
Problem solved. :)
In other words, flooding is NOT always a bad thing? It’s just Nature’s way of moving fertile soil to low-lying areas from year to year? What a concept!
Who’s going to tell that to FEMA? You, or me? ;)
Socialism would work great, if we just had a couple of more laws. </ sarc>
Why don’t LibTards start by repealing the Laws of Gravity? ;)
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