Amid trade war, floods compound Nebraska farmers’ woes
Already hurt by the US-China trade war, farmers in Nebraska are reeling from this year’s devastating floods, which ravaged crops and left little time to plant for the next harvest.
Damage from the March rains in the Midwest is visible across the landscape north of Omaha, the state’s biggest city: trees have fallen, growing fields are caked in mud and rivers are at elevated levels.
“Road Closed” signs pop up often in particularly waterlogged areas where bridges and dikes were overwhelmed, making neighborhoods uninhabitable and cutting off public services.
Cows are visible in some pastures but many breeders are still tallying their losses. Some animals died in the floods and others perished after being sickened by bad water.
“I know people who lost a lot of their animals because they were stranded in the floods,” said Jim Dinklage, a farmer in Orchard, about three hours from Omaha.
“You couldn’t have access to them.”
Of Nebraska’s 93 counties, 81 have declared states of emergency, said Steve Wellman, director of the Nebraska Department of Agriculture.
“So 85 per cent of the state of Nebraska has been impacted by either flooding or blizzard conditions from the middle of March,” he said.
Damages are estimated at more than US$800 million, about US$400 million in the livestock industry and US$440 million in crops.
Among the 50 states, Nebraska is the third-biggest corn producer and second-biggest ethanol producer.
One out of four jobs is tied to farming, the state’s biggest sector.
In Scribner, north of Omaha, Ruth and Sid Ready describe a closing window of opportunity for the season.
Corn is usually planted from mid-April through May, while soybeans are sown through July 1.
“It’s not like we’ve got a lot of alternatives out here. You either get your crop in the spring, or you are out of income for the entire year,” said Ruth Ready, adding that the floods shrank this season’s usable acreage, threatening the next harvest.
The couple, who also raise cows, estimate the rains will effectively double the costs in the Nebraska farm belt this year.
Clare and Gayle Duda, corn and soy farmers in nearby Ponca Hills, said they were facing a similar situation.
“We planted 300 acres and we were only able to harvest five acres,” or just two hectares, said Clare, adding that losses were hard to bear without revenue to make up for the investment in the crop. Flood waters had pooled in the middle of the Dudas’ corn field, splitting it in two and cutting off access to much of the crops, consigning them to ruin.
A church donation paid for antibiotics to treat E.coli infections in their goats, but the bacteria is also now present in mushrooms on the property.
“We should be out planting today but because the river flooded, the soil gets so saturated, so wet, that we can’t,” said a forlorn Clare. — AFP