A top federal official has been touring damage to farms from the flooding along the Missouri River in Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska. Karis Gutter is the U.S.D.A. Farm and Foreign Service Acting Deputy Under Secretary. Prior to a meeting with residents of Hamburg on Wednesday, Gutter took an aerial tour of the farmland buried under water.
“We saw a fairly new grain bin that was being overrun by water and it turned over right in front of our eyes,” Gutter said. “So, what we saw was some farmer’s livelihood – not floating away on the river, but floating on their farm.” The U.S.D.A. has compiled preliminary estimates about the extent of damage to crops from the flooding.
“We’ve run quick numbers on the inundation areas and the crop land acres. In Iowa, we’ve got somewhere upwards of 300,000 acres in the impact area,” Gutter said. Another 130,000 acres in Missouri and 120,000 acres in Nebraska are impacted by the floodwaters. Gutter helps oversee two key USDA agencies that can assist with the recovery.
He says federal crop insurance policies will protect farmers who have losses due to the floods.
By Dan Skelton, KICD, Spencer