Farmers along the Missouri River and its tributaries are still assessing damage from recent flooding.
But beyond the farms in parts of Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas, there鈥檚 visible evidence that the impacts are far-reaching and long-lasting 鈥� and 鈥� key cogs in a global agriculture economy.
鈥淲e want to be a country that can capitalize on our agricultural prowess to not only satisfy customers domestically but also internationally,鈥� said Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the . 鈥淎nd in order to do that, you have to have this ability to connect supply with demand.鈥�
In rural communities, many gravel roads became impassable and some bridges were entirely washed out, Steenhoek said.
鈥淭his rural infrastructure perhaps isn鈥檛 sexy, but it is very essential to making sure that what we grow on the farm, or the livestock that鈥檚 produced there, can find its way onto the marketplace,鈥� Steenhoek said. He pointed out that small communities may be least able to come up with the funding to rebuild bridges and make other necessary repairs.
And while the Missouri River has been the main focus, Steenhoek said near-record snowfalls this winter followed by heavy rains is also affecting the Mississippi, Illinois and Ohio rivers. The barge traffic that most people associate with those rivers is less efficient right now because of high river levels, he said, and that doesn鈥檛 just mean grain exports take longer going south on the river.
鈥淭he month of April is the busiest time of year, traditionally, for fertilizer shipments coming up the river and then it gets unloaded at various locations adjacent to the river and then delivered to the retail locations,鈥� Steenhoek said. Those deliveries may be a bit behind schedule, potentially affecting the planting of farmers far from the areas that flooded. 鈥淚t certainly is having a seismic impact on the entire industry.鈥�
Livestock and meat production
Iowa State University livestock economist Lee Schulz said it鈥檚 too early to know what the flooding鈥檚 impact is on livestock producers, many of whom are still taking stock of what they鈥檝e lost. Looking at ag overall, Iowa officials estimated it might be a loss of $214 million; Nebraska officials said up to $1 billion.
Initially, Schulz said, he heard about some livestock trucks that had to take longer routes or deliver animals to different packing plants. Some farms and feedlots had to keep animals a few days longer than usual, while others may have trucked animals a little farther to reach slaughter facilities.
Those were minor disruptions, Schulz noted, and the industry was able to keep pace with them; some competing businesses even worked together to keep transportation and processing moving as smoothly as possible.
Plus, meat prices are volatile due to trade disputes, tariffs, animal diseases and other factors, Schulz said, so it may never be possible to tease out whether the March floods directly affected consumer prices.
鈥淚t likely won鈥檛 be one that we can really isolate, 鈥楬ere is the impact and it was a rather large impact.鈥� I think it鈥檚 something that over time we may realize a little bit, but overall, I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 going to be too much of an impact on prices,鈥� Schulz said.
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