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Record Rainfall Damages Crops
By
Aimee Nielson
LEXINGTON, Ky., (Sept. 27, 2006) – Record rainfall swept over
Kentucky recently and western parts of the state took the worst
hit of all, with a deluge of 13.82 inches recorded in Mayfield
in fewer than 72 hours. University of Kentucky College of
Agriculture Meteorologist Tom Priddy said September is already
the state’s second wettest in 111 years.
 “It’s
amazing,” he said. “It’s quite rare to get this type of rainfall
during this time of year. We are usually going into the driest
part of the season right about now. This is almost like a one in
100-year storm. In western Kentucky, it’s already the wettest
September on record. Paducah has had 11.24 inches of rain this
month; their previous record was 9.23 inches and that was in
1985.”
No areas of Kentucky are in drought status, and that’s good
news, Priddy said. But some fields in western Kentucky were
under water for up to three days, severely damaging crops that
were near harvest.
In Graves County, UK Cooperative Extension Agent for Agriculture
and Natural Resources Bill Green said there is a lot of debris
and mud in the fields. He said corn, soybeans and tobacco fields
were victims of the recent floods.
“It was scary,” he said. “It started raining and when one wave
ended, the sun came through, but two or three hours later,
another wave of rain started. I’ve been in Graves County for 35
years and this is the worst localized rainfall I’ve ever seen. A
lot of crops were submerged.”
Green estimated between 50 to 60 percent of the corn crop and
about 30 to 35 percent of the soybeans have been harvested. He
said it’s difficult at this point to estimate the extent of the
damage to the remaining crops.
UK Extension Grain Crops Specialist Chad Lee said the flooding
could result in yield losses, but he can’t say to what extent.
“Farmers will need to carefully scout the fields and determine
if the plants are worth harvesting – if the plants can stand or
if the plants need to be harvested immediately,” he said. “With
corn, there are issues about whether or not it can be fed to
livestock. It you want to feed it, you need to get it tested for
toxins, fungi and bacteria.”
Lee said the safest thing to do is to avoid feeding corn to
livestock.
“Grain elevators won’t accept kernels that are soaked,” he said.
“Obviously if farmers can’t sell the grain, they are going to
want to try to feed it, but it must be tested, especially if
it’s going to be fed to cattle.”
Green said farmers in Graves County have not had to deal much
with mycotoxins in the last several years because they haven’t
had the kind of storms that came through the area last weekend.
“Another factor is the topsoil,” he said. “When the floodwater
came through – there went the organic matter and the nutrients
and all the good stuff. It takes time to build that back.”
In Marshall County, harvesting has not progressed as much as in
Graves County. Twenty-five percent of the UK soybean variety
trial plot in Marshall County was inundated with floodwater and
that’s just one part of a larger soybean field, said Lincoln
Martin, the county’s UK Extension agent for agriculture and
natural resources. He said some fields were under water for two
to three days.
“There’s nothing good about getting all this rain in such a
short period of time,” he said. “A lot of producers aren’t
really sure what they are going to have left. If their crop did
survive, what is the grain quality going to be? Just because
it’s still standing doesn’t mean it’s marketable.”
Martin said the only thing farmers can do right now is wait. In
the meantime, they can contact their crop insurance adjuster and
get on the list for a visit.
Lee said farmers should be aware of four specific scenarios
related to soybeans. First, soybean seeds that have dried below
50 percent moisture and imbibe water to rise above 50 percent
moisture can germinate. In the scenario of flooded soybeans,
sprouting in the pod is a possibility. The second scenario is
shattering once the plants dry out. Third, farmers should look
for saprophytic fungi. The moist, dead soybean plant material is
a good host to saprophytic fungi. These could discolor some
soybean seeds, he said. They could cause clouds of black dust
during harvest and the fungi could weaken stalks. The fourth
possibility is lodging of plants. Lodging can result from rapid
movement of water into or out of the field.
Green emphasized that crop damage is not the only part of the
financial equation. Cleanup will become another important
variable.
“Farmers have to be aware of the cleanup costs,” he said. “They
need to be careful not to get pieces of the debris in their
combines. Sometime after harvest, it’s all going to have to be
cleaned up.” |
Contact: Chad Lee,
859-257-3203
Tom Priddy, 859-257-3000, ext. 245
Bill Green, 270-247-2334
Lincoln Martin 270-527-3285 |
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