US Iowa floods affect cornfields

Iowa corn-founded by floods
No relief in sight as overflowing rivers prevent planting, spoil what's sown
Straits Times 17 Jun 08;

NEWHALL (IOWA) - HERE, in some of the best soil in the world, the stunted stalks of farmer Dave Timmerman's newly-planted corn are wilting in what sometimes look more like padi fields than the plains, the sunshine glinting off pools of water.

Although time is running out, Mr Timmerman has yet to plant all of his soya bean crop because the waterlogged soil cannot support his footsteps, much less heavy machinery.

His small farm has been flooded four times in the past month by a tributary of the Cedar River, which overflowed its banks last week, causing catastrophic damage in nearby Cedar Rapids and other towns and farmsteads across the state.

At a time when corn should be almost waist-high in the United States' No. 1 corn state, Iowa has lost 530,000ha of corn and 810,000ha of soya beans. Some 16 per cent of the state's 10 million ha of tillable farmland is underwater.

'In the lean years, we had beautiful crops but they weren't worth much,' Mr Timmerman said, surveying the land that his family has tended for generations.

'Now, with commodity prices sky high, Mother Nature is throwing us all these curve balls. I'm 42 years old and these are by far the poorest crops I've ever seen.'

All across the sodden, rain-soaked Mid-west, there are thousands - many of them other farmers - who are a lot worse off than Mr Timmerman.

Since the beginning of this month, first tornadoes and then heavy rain and flooding, have cut a watery path across the region. And officials fear that worse flooding may lie ahead as rain-gorged tributaries spill into the Mississippi River system, threatening scores of other communities.

But the plight of Mr Timmerman and thousands of other farmers who have seen their fields turn into flood plains goes beyond the Mid-west.

Last week, the price of corn broke through the US$7 (S$9.60) a bushel price-point on the commodities futures market for the first time, and soya beans rose sharply too.

Besides Iowa, the heavy-farming states of Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Minnesota have suffered an unusual level of flooding this year.

Soaring global demand in addition to the increased use of corn for ethanol, an alternative fuel, have shrunk the worldwide supply of staples that are the core of practically every continent's diet.

Meanwhile, the price of oil has jumped, increasing the cost of producing crops, feeding livestock and causing an overall inflation of grocery bills here and abroad, sparking riots and protests in at least two dozen countries.

'The American farmer, we feed the world,' Mr Timmerman said.

'We're going to be short on corn and we're going to be short on soya beans.

'It's heart-wrenching.'

NEW YORK TIMES, ASSOCIATED PRESS