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IFBF asks Congress for livestock, grain farmer assistance in wake of floods"The residual effects of the high water are being felt now as farmers look at a closing window to replant corn and an approaching window to replant lost soybean acres," says Lang. "Depending on weather and location, upwards of two-thirds of 2 million soybean acres could get replanted or salvaged, but we don't know where the yields will be because we can't predict what weather is coming," says Lang. Iowa Iowa Farm Bureau leaders are calling on members of Congress to move up the Conservation Reserve Program hay-cutting allowance to assist Midwest livestock producers in the wake of the devastating flood. The CRP lands were recently opened up for hay cutting, but access to the land was held until August because of concern over wild bird nesting. "Unfortunately, many of those nests were washed away with high water two weeks ago," says Iowa Farm Bureau Federation President Craig Lang. "Our livestock farmers can't hold out until August to feed their animals." Lang says Farm Bureau sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer to immediately release CRP acres for haying and grazing. The Floods of 2008 is expected to have many long and short-term effects. At this point, Iowa's threatened grain crops have already impacted the price of corn and soybeans, which livestock farmers feed to their animals. "Before the floods, corn was trading at $6 due to higher energy costs already, but now, it is more than $1.50 higher and may go higher still before this crop is harvested in the fall," says IFBF economist, Dave Miller. "We're currently looking at a $3 billion crop loss and an additional half billion in livestock feed cost losses. Farmers are "ready and waiting to go" to re-plant the flooded fields, but significant rains fell across much of the state last Thursday through Saturday (June 19 to 21) further delaying field drying. Some livestock farmers may have to liquidate their hogs and cattle because they can't pay the feed costs-which aren't covered by insurance. We feed 15 million hogs in Iowa and those farmers are losing anywhere from $20 to $40 a head right now; it's a moving target. Cattle farmers are facing an additional $120 per head of feed cost increase," says Miller. Another crucial issue is farm access to farm fields and rural towns, because the Governor's office estimates that 1,500 miles of roads are impacted by high water. Access is difficult as the cleanup gets under way. As a result, Farm Bureau is calling on Iowa Governor Chet Culver to suspend weight limits on Iowa highways so farmers can move up to 90,000 pounds in grain, feed or flood debris. In addition, Farm Bureau sent a plea to the Army corps of Engineers to carefully manage the outflow of the state's reservoirs so the potential for further flooding can be minimized as farmers get back to crucial field work. Timing is everything; "The residual effects of the high water are being felt now as farmers look at a closing window to replant corn and an approaching window to replant lost soybean acres," says Lang. "Depending on weather and location, upwards of two-thirds of 2 million soybean acres could get replanted or salvaged, but we don't know where the yields will be because we can't predict what weather is coming," says Lang. "What we do know is that Iowa farmers will find a way to continue to feed and fuel a growing world. Throughout history, we have come through all kinds of weather and market challenges and we'll do the same this time," says Lang. For more information on the Floods of 2008 and the impact to Iowa agriculture, visit www.iowafarmbureau.com/flood08. 7/7/08 Date: 7/1/08
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