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posted by martyb on Saturday March 30 2019, @10:31PM   Printer-friendly
from the too-much-of-a-good-thing-is-not-so-good dept.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/exclusive-more-than-1-million-acres-of-us-cropland-ravaged-by-floods/ar-BBVoRKX:

At least 1 million acres (405,000 hectares) of U.S. farmland were flooded after the "bomb cyclone" storm left wide swaths of nine major grain producing states under water this month, satellite data analyzed by Gro Intelligence for Reuters showed.

Farms from the Dakotas to Missouri and beyond have been under water for a week or more, possibly impeding planting and damaging soil. The floods, which came just weeks before planting season starts in the Midwest, will likely reduce corn, wheat and soy production this year.

"There's thousands of acres that won't be able to be planted," Ryan Sonderup, 36, of Fullerton, Nebraska, who has been farming for 18 years, said in a recent interview.

"If we had straight sunshine now until May and June, maybe it can be done, but I don't see how that soil gets back with expected rainfall."

Spring floods could yet impact an even bigger area of cropland. The U.S. government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has warned of what could be an "unprecedented flood season" as it forecasts heavy spring rains. Rivers may swell further as a deep snow pack in northern growing areas melts.

[...] The flooded acreage represents less than 1 percent of U.S. land used to grow corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, cotton, sorghum and barley. In 2018, some 240 million total acres of these crops were planted in the United States, USDA data shows.

[...] In Wisconsin more than 1,000 dairy and beef animals were lost during winter storms and 480 agricultural structures collapsed or damaged, according to an email from Sandy Chalmers, executive director of the Wisconsin state office of the USDA's Farm Service Agency.

US Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue tells Fox News Business:

"There may be as many as a million calves lost in Nebraska"

https://agroinsurance.com/en/usa-nebraska-ag-losses-from-flooding-estimated-close-to-1b/:

The Nebraska Farm Bureau president says farm and ranch losses to the devastating flooding could reach $1 billion in the state.

President Steve Nelson estimates $400 million on crop losses because of crops that will be planted late — if at all. He also estimates up to $500 million in livestock losses as the state struggles with swollen rivers and breached or overtopped levees following heavy rain and snowmelt.

Apparently this is a loss of about 1% the total cattle in the US:

All Cattle and Calves

      - 94.4 million - 1% increase from 2017 (93.7 million)


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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 30 2019, @11:56PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 30 2019, @11:56PM (#822542)

    When people don't have money having lost their crop, do they still pay your "well positioned for global warming" company?
    Or is the company targeting only the "people who always have money" market segment?

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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday March 31 2019, @03:53AM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday March 31 2019, @03:53AM (#822620) Journal

    When people don't have money having lost their crop, do they still pay your "well positioned for global warming" company?

    They do not. But guess what, the economy is bigger than some farmers in the western side of the Midwest. And those farmers will still have good years, even in the era of climate change.

  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 31 2019, @06:56AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 31 2019, @06:56AM (#822659)

    To further add to Mr khallows arguement, one million acres is an area of 25 miles by 64 miles. Draw it on a multi-state map and you would have trouble finding it again.
    The area will also likely be better for farming after the water goes down, further reducing the impact of a very small crop loss. On a personal level for the farmers involved it may be anywhere from annoying to devastating, and they have my sympathy, but on a society level it amounts to blip.