INVESTING CHECKOFF DOLLARS
LINGERING FLOODS M I SS O U R I R I V E R FA R M E R S T RY TO STAY O P T I M I ST I C A B O U T 2 0 2 0 C R O P Y E A R BY JOSEPH L. MURPHY
T
he clock is ticking for farmers wanting to plant crops along the Missouri River in 2020. As winter approaches, farmers are still picking up the pieces after river flooding destroyed levees and covered farm fields. The problem they face today is much as it was in April – they are still underwater. “Six months and seven days,” Leo Ettleman, a sixth-generation farmer from Sidney, utters with disdain as he looks at an area of farmland that could easily be confused as a lake. The valuable soybean and corn fields near
the unincorporated town of McPaul have been under 5 to 6 feet of water since mid-March. On March 19, the rapidly rising waters of the Missouri River blew out flood levees and swept across Ettleman's fields. All told, he and his son have had 1,700 acres impacted by the floods. Of that, 350 acres are still underwater and have not been dry since. Ettleman is not alone. Officials say there were 600 miles of damaged levees and 110 breaches caused by the flood. About 49,000 acres of
farm ground in Fremont County were impacted, most of which were declared as preventive plant acres during the 2019 growing season. An estimated $34 million worth of stored soybeans and corn were lost as a result of the flooding. To make matters worse, persistent rains in the Dakotas, northeast Nebraska and northwest Iowa have prolonged the flooding. “What civilized, progressive nation goes through an eight-month flood over such a huge area?” Ettleman asks. “It is absurd.”
Leo Ettleman, an Iowa Soybean Association member from Sidney, walks along a county road in an area that has been flooded since March.
18 | NOVEMBER 2019 | IASOYBEANS.COM
