US flood crop damage tops $8 billion

The largest farm group in the United States has said that weather-related damage to the country's crops, including recent floods in the Midwest, has topped $8-billion so far this year.

The American Farm Bureau Federation said leading farm state Iowa accounted for about half of the damage, which ranged from excessive rains and flooding in Illinois to drought in California.

“Wet weather and flooding create issues, as farmers are unable to plant their crops,” said AFBF senior economist Terry Francl. “The crops they do plant do not sprout and grow, resulting in few acres harvest.”

“Additionally, the difficult growing conditions greatly reduce the yield of the crop that is harvested,” he added.

The assessment comes in the wake of the worst floods in 15 years in the Midwest, the country's grain belt. The Midwest grows crops from corn to soybeans to wheat that are used domestically and shipped across the globe for food and animal feed.

Mr. Francl said he expected Iowa corn yields could fall by 16 per cent this year and that 1.5 million to 2 million acres of corn and soybeans in the state that farmers intended to plant this spring will likely remain fallow.

AFBF said this would result in an estimated loss of $4-billion to Iowa's crops, and that other states taking a hit from excessive wet weather and flooding are Illinois with $1.3-billion, Missouri $900-million, Indiana $500-million and Nebraska $500-million.

It said an additional $1-billion in losses were expected in other states where conditions remained wet.

The group said some states were experiencing dry weather, with drought taking a toll in several Western and Southeastern states. It said northern California battled the driest spring in its history, and as a whole the state suffered $500-million in estimated damage.

AFBF said on a national basis, the corn yield is likely to decline some eight to 10 bushels per acre from the 2008 trend line, mostly due to inclement weather.

The national soybean average yield is also likely to be down one to two bushels per acre from the current U.S. Agriculture Department projection of 42 bushels per acre.

AFBF said the damage estimate is based on the assumption that weather conditions will be normal for the remainder of the growing season, adding that varying weather conditions later in the season could cause the estimate to grow or contract.