Flooded grain in southwest Iowa.
As floodwaters slowly fall in many parts of the state, Iowa farmers are getting back onto their properties to survey the damage and to prepare for spring planting, if possible.
Iowa State University Extension farm management field specialist Steve Johnson says farmers who had grain in bins will need to see if that grain got wet. “When we saw a lot of this water inundate a lot of grain being held in on-farm storage, that corn, those soybeans, those are adulterated crops,” Johnson says. “Those can’t be fed. Those can’t be shipped into the system.”
Growers need to be aware that federal crop insurance doesn’t cover grain that’s been soaked by floodwaters. “It’ll have to be covered under some sort of a farm policy. They’re not covered by crop insurance because those bushels were already harvested,” Johnson says. “Here in Iowa, the Department of Natural Resources is involved and they have places where farmers can go with that adulterated crop.”
The adulterated or lesser quality grain won’t necessarily need to be thrown out, but it shouldn’t be used as feed for cattle, hogs or chickens. “You better be careful about feeding any of this adulterated crops that were in storage,” Johnson says. “Just a real caution because that can really trigger other issues regarding livestock and livestock health.”
Johnson says producers who need information on resources to deal with grain damage can go to the ISU Extension website: www.extension.iastate.edu.
(By Jerry Oster, WNAX, Yankton/photo by State Trooper Scott Miller)