08/09/24 USDA Flood Review Leaves More Questions Than Answers

The USDA has a “Disaster Monitoring Team” that reports on the extent of crop damage from natural events like the heavy flooding that occurred in late June across the Western Corn Belt. A new review of that storm’s impact was just released to show crop loss estimates that were surprisingly minimal.   With the study confined to a limited area covering the four corners of South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska, USDA’s tally of the acres affected only included 70,000 of corn and 46,000 acres of soybeans. These acres were called totally inundated by the flood. The analysts did not attempt to account for ponding or any lasting issues that may have developed for crops not totally lost to the flood.   The determination of which acres were lost or not factors into the yield projections, given that the removal of flooded acres could leave the total crop with a higher yield average. An offsetting influence for the higher yields would potentially be the damage done to crops still standing. Reports from farmers suggest that Minnesota has a particular problem with nitrogen loss for the corn crop. Many other areas will deal with wet-weather disease issues such as soybean sudden…