Flood damage to Midwest soil may block replanting

By Mark Weinraub

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Midwest U.S. farmers with flooded fields may find that soils have been damaged too much to plant this year even if the waters recede quickly, agronomists said on Wednesday.

Fields that have been underwater for close to a week were facing damage that could give farmers headaches for years.

"There has been a tremendous amount of soil erosion," said James Fawcett, a field specialist in southeastern Iowa with Iowa State Extension Service. "The fields will not be as productive as they have been in the past."

Fields along flooded rivers will have to be cleared of sand and debris before they can be planted again, Fawcett added.

And it will take a long time for some fields to dry even if the standing water subsides soon.

"We have areas where it is going to take six months before it is going to dry out," said Palle Pedersen, extension agronomist at Iowa State University.

"The worst areas are the river bottoms where ... we have had a lot of water sitting for a long, long time."

But conditions have dried out enough on higher ground to allow some farmers to replant soybeans or spray and fertilize their fields despite watery "potholes," agronomists said.

About 20 percent of Iowa's corn crop was either ruined or is in serious jeopardy, Iowa State University agronomist Roger Elmore said. The remaining 80 percent is not in good shape.

"This is a tough time for corn growers as you look at the amount of acres that are flooded and that are in need of replanting," Elmore said.

Affected farmers face a dilemma: spend the money to replant and reap perhaps half the normal yield, assuming there is not a summer drought or early frost, or accept crop insurance payments.

TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE?

Farmers that are able to replant fields that have been damaged by the flooding were taking a risk that yields will be severely reduced due to the late planting date.

"For sure, they are out on a limb with this crop," said Emerson Nafziger, extension agronomist at the University of Illinois.

Any corn planting that can be done immediately faces yield reductions of 50 percent or more due to the shortened growing season for those plants. Normally, corn planted in central Illinois and Iowa after May 15 loses about a bushel of yield per acre each day. But flooding has also washed out nitrogen fertilizer, a key corn-yield booster, from planted fields.