USA - Agencies tackle high volume of ag damage assessments
28.06.2021 541 views
MSU Extension agents will be assessing agricultural damage from early-June flooding until well into July, but preliminary estimates indicate losses could break records.
The 2019 Yazoo Backwater Area flood caused $617 million in crop damage alone. It looks like the more recent flood will exceed those losses.
Heavy rainfall, primarily north of U.S. Highway 82, throughout the second week of June waterlogged crops during critical growth stages. Flooding caused complete or partial losses in many fields.
Rainfall totals for that week were as high as 20 inches in some areas. In the aftermath, many producers requested damage assessments through the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. MSU Extension agents conduct these evaluations in concert with MEMA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency to record all disaster-related agricultural damages, including crops, equipment, structures and livestock.
MSU Extension Emergency Coordinating Officer Preston Aust helps organize teams to make the assessments. Many of the assessments done so far are in the north Delta. Tunica and Quitman counties each sustained roughly $100 million in total agricultural damages, while Tallahatchie County suffered around $70 million. Assessments have been conducted in more than a dozen counties so far.
“By the time we were ready to respond to early requests for assessments, the rainwater was receding off of the land, so the growers were scrambling to either salvage what they still had or gear up for replanting,” Aust said. “We’ve made a lot of progress in several counties, while there are others where we are trying to work around the growers’ schedules.
“Bolivar, Coahoma and Sunflower counties are among others with extensive damage that we haven’t made it to yet,” he said.
MSU Extension grain specialist Erick Larson discussed the extent of flood damage to corn in a June 23 episode of the Mississippi Crop Situation podcast. This flood, he said, was unprecedented for corn growers.
“The thing that is unique about this flood event is that it occurred during the middle of the season when the crop was very well developed,” Larson said. “A lot of our inputs had gone into the crop. Now, we are to the point where we have got everything from corn plants and large sections of flooded corn that are literally dying to some corn that was temporarily flooded or exposed to heavy rainfall. Now, we are trying to decide whether or not we need to do some different things regarding management in order to maximize this current crop and finish it out.”
Trent Irby, MSU Extension soybean specialist, said that, while soybeans can survive under water for a short time, there were some whole fields or lower areas in other fields that were submerged too long for plants to survive.
“In scenarios where there is a total loss, we have the option to replant fully. The thing to keep in mind is the drastic reduction in yield potential we see from a complete replant, but we may not have a choice,” Irby said. “We have other areas where we may have to decide between keeping part of a field and replanting another part of a field or just keeping it all, depending on the population.
“In each field being managed with furrow management schemes, it is nearly impossible to manage two crops in the same field from an irrigation standpoint,” he said. “We’ll have other fields that may weather the storm, depending how long those beans stayed under water.”
Mississippi’s cotton crop will also be affected by the flooding, but heat unit accumulation has been down for the entire year, meaning the crop was already behind schedule in terms of growth.
“Submerged cotton plants can take it on the chin when water gets on them,” said MSU Extension cotton specialist Brian Pieralisi. “There are concerns, but I’m hoping if they were not totally submerged, we’ll be OK. There are some spots that are drowned out. We’re likely to see some scenarios where there could be a loss.”
Because of the timing of the flooding in 2019, growers in the south Delta did not get a crop in the ground that year, Aust said.
“This scenario could be monetarily more devastating for growers who had tasseling corn that was 60 days away from its endpoint,” he said.
MSU Extension Associate Director Steve Martin said county Extension coordinators, specialists and agents work in a variety of ways to help farmers cope with these types of scenarios.
“Our ability to assist with assessing agricultural damages from flooding and other weather-related events professionally is because of the deep trust MSU Extension has built with farmers throughout the state over years of service to clients and stakeholders,” Martin said.
Source - https://www.picayuneitem.com
EVENTS
ScaleAgData Stakeholder Engagement Event
22.10.2024The ScaleAgData project is pleased to invite you to our second stakeholder event. Building on the discussions and connections formed during our first webinar, this event will focus on fostering collaboration among stakeholders, providing updates on our project’s progress, and outlining future opportunities for engagement.
14.01.2026
UKEF backs €193mn loan for key agricultural project in Uganda
UK Export Finance (UKEF) has backed a €192.9mn loan to finance the first phase of a key agricultural project in Uganda set to boost the country’s economy.
14.01.2026
India - Haryana releases ₹116 crore to 53,821 farmers for crop loss due to heavy rains
Providing financial relief to farmers, Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini on Wednesday released a crop compensation of ₹116.15 crore to 53,821 farmers for losses suffered due to heavy rains in August-September.
14.01.2026
India - Uttarakhand faces snow drought and forest fires as lack of rain hits crops
Rabi crops have suffered estimated losses of 15–25 per cent, officials say, as an unusually dry winter raises concerns over glaciers and water security.
14.01.2026
Vietnam, US launch 15.2 million USD tilapia development project
The project has a total budget of more than 15.2 million USD and will be implemented over five years, aiming to raise tilapia output to 1.21 million tonnes, with total sales value estimated at around 1.25 billion USD.
14.01.2026
Puerto Rico - New agriculture secretary aims to use science to boost local farming
Agronomist Irving Rodríguez Torres, the newly appointed secretary of the Department of Agriculture, has unveiled an ambitious administrative agenda aimed at modernizing Puerto Rico’s agricultural sector.
14.01.2026
EPPO seizes assets from Italian livestock farmers
Italian authorities, acting at the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), have frozen assets belonging to four livestock farmers suspected of fraudulently claiming EU agricultural subsidies for grazing activities.
13.01.2026
Brazil - Farm sector pushes to restore funding safeguard for crop insurance
After a year of declines in Brazil’s rural insurance market and coverage—triggered by a nearly 50% cut in federal subsidies—insurers are lobbying Congress to overturn President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s veto of a provision in the Budget Guidelines Law (LDO) that would have protected funding for the policy in 2026.
13.01.2026
India - Central team reviews flood damage in Kamalapur of Kalaburagi district
A two-member Central team on Tuesday visited flood-affected villages in Kamalapur taluk of Kalaburagi district to assess crop and infrastructure damage caused by heavy rain in August and September last year and heard grievances of farmers.
