For western Iowa farmers, growing-season concerns have morphed from drought in April to flooding in late June.

Torrential rains dumped up to 15 inches of rain in two days in some parts of northwestern Iowa this weekend. On June 24, Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a disaster proclamation for the southwestern and west-central Iowa counties of  Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Monona, and Pottawattamie counties in response to the impending flooding.

“It is really devastating to see,” says Leah Ten Napel, Iowa State University Extension field agronomist who’s headquartered out of LeMars. “Many acres of crops, livestock and homes are affected by this disaster. It will take some time to know the real extent of the damage.”

She reports that crop fields where water has receded somewhat quickly will probably recover. “Areas still under water will most likely see crop loss,” Ten Napel says.

Low-lying areas of fields that were replanted due to earlier rainfall are full again, reports Gentry Sorenson, an ISU Extension field agronomist based in Algona. In some areas, standing water exceeds the original replanted area, due to the weekend’s rainfall.

“Some of those areas have been replanted two or more times,” he says. “It will be sometime for water to go down in those areas, especially the large areas of standing water.”

He concurs with Ten Napel that it will take time to evaluate the damage. “Wet conditions and road closures from flooding have slowed initial scouting efforts,” he says.

Further west, crop damage from flooding has been less, reports Angie Rieck-Hinz, an ISU Extension field agronomist based in Clarion. Still, there has been some low-land flooding next to rivers and much ponding in areas where crops have been replanted two and three times.

Now, replanting faces a clock that is winding down. “It is most likely time to move on from considering replants and move into management mode for the remainder of the year, such as how to keep weeds at bay and scouting for disease,” Rieck-Hinz says.

ISU Extension and Outreach maintains a disaster recovery webpage that includes many resources from inspecting flood-damaged appliances to flood-damaged grain. Please reach out to your county Extension office or Extension specialists if you need assistance. 

Source - https://www.farmprogress.com