Advertisement And consumers will join farmers in taking the hit, as the flooding across the Midwest has helped push already high commodity prices to record levels, market watchers said.
"This is just a record. I don't know that we've ever seen corn prices above $7" per bushel, said Bruce Jones, an economist and farm management specialist at UW-Madison. "The further increases are going to put some more pressure on consumer food prices."
'Here we go again'
In the Kickapoo River Valley in western Wisconsin, farmers struck by flash floods in August are once again getting "hammered" by intense rains, said Russell Hagen, Crawford County land conservationist.
"I'm not a psychologist, but folks are saying, 'Here we go again,' and it's hard to deal with," Hagen said.
One of those farmers is organic vegetable grower Richard de Wilde of Harmony Valley Farm near Viroqua, who delivers fresh produce to more than 1,500 area families and restaurants each summer.
Harmony Valley lost more than $500,000 in crop sales as a result of last year's rains and, with the winter's heavy snows, the fields still had excess moisture this spring, de Wilde said. Last weekend, he measured 12.5 inches of rain that fell on his fields in less than 48 hours, leaving de Wilde estimating nearly $200,000 in losses so far.
"To have another huge (rain) event nine months later makes me say, 'What is wrong with our weather?'?" de Wilde said.
Farmers around the state have seen lost or damaged crops that have already been planted, said Ben Brancel, executive director for Wisconsin of the federal Farm Service Agency, which works with farmers who have lost crops, buildings and livestock because of storms.
But they also will likely lose money because of poorer yields on crops planted late because of flooded or muddy fields, he said. In some fields, the delays may force farmers to switch to other, less-favored crops with a shorter growing cycle, or simply not plant crops at all.
Counties report damage
Dollar amounts on damage estimates for the entire state weren't available from Wisconsin Emergency Management or from Brancel, who said he had reports of crop damage in about 15 counties. But an informal survey by the State Journal of farm agents in a dozen of those counties Wednesday turned up estimates of many tens of thousands of damaged or ruined acres of corn, soybeans, alfalfa and vegetables.
David Fischer, Dane County crops and soils agent for UW-Extension, said statewide losses would likely run into the tens of millions of dollars.
In Dane County, Fischer said farmers could see $20.4 million in lost crop sales due to crops being ruined, delayed or damaged. Fischer also figured a potential $16 million loss due to reduced yields from washed or leached-away nitrogen fertilizer on cornfields if farmers don't replace it.
Jefferson County also expects significant losses, said UW-Extension crops and soils agent Joe Bollman.
"We will probably be upwards of $18 to $20 million (in crop losses), and that's if things stay the same way they are now," Bollman said.
Bollman said Dean Kincaid Inc.'s 4,000 acres near Palmyra, one of the county's hardest-hit areas, is expected to see a 90 percent to 100 percent loss of its onion, carrot, potato, corn and soybean crops. "We're looking at multimillion-dollars of loss there," he said.
Also severely hit was the Crawfish River area on the northern edge of the county, where at least 35 percent of the corn and soybean crops are expected to be lost. "It's a very somber mood out there now," Bollman said. "It's a sad atmosphere."
Insurance falls short
Affected farmers often have crop insurance, but it won't cover the full amount their lost crops could have sold for this year, said John Baird, Crawford County executive director for the Farm Service Agency.
That's because crop insurance tends to work on average prices going back several years and won't reflect those high prices for harvested grain, he said. Farmers also have higher costs of raw materials such as fuel and fertilizer this year.
De Wilde said he's still wrangling over how much he should receive for insurance on his vegetable crops from last year.
Pat O'Brien, of Fitchburg, doesn't expect insurance to cover the full value of lost crops on his farm.
The dairyman has around 18 acres of cropland under water that is either harming planted crops or preventing O'Brien from planting corn when he needs to. Rain is also affecting the first yearly hay cutting that farmers such as O'Brien are bringing in right now.
"Oh Lord," O'Brien lamented, when he learned Wednesday that the price of a bushel of corn to be delivered in December had risen to more than $7 in trading in Chicago markets.
O'Brien will have to buy grain for his cattle on this pricey open market to make up for what he can't grow on his own because of the flooding. That, in turn, will either cut into his profits or raise the price of his milk for consumers.
Food prices may rise
The recent wave of flooding in Wisconsin and other Midwest states prompted the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Tuesday to lower the nation's corn production estimate to about 11.7 billion bushels — 10 percent less than last fall's crop.
A bushel of soybeans to be delivered in November almost reached $15 in trading Wednesday, said Jones, adding that such prices for corn and soybeans haven't been seen in a generation, if ever.
That could mean higher prices for consumers on a range of foods dependent on corn and soybeans, from meats to cheese and other processed foods, said analysts including Darrel Good, a professor of agricultural economics at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.
Bridge and road closures are also making it difficult for farmers to reach their fields and have their perishable milk picked up by dairy trucks, local agricultural agents said.
Erosion of topsoil from the floods also could have a small but permanent effect on fields' productivity, said Hagen, the Crawford County land conservationist. "A lot of our good topsoil is headed for Louisiana."
In spite of the challenges, farmers such as de Wilde said they intend to soldier on and will still be able to deliver many products to customers. That doesn't mean they won't be making some changes.
"There's a couple of fields I might not ever replant again," de Wilde said.
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