US flooding ruins crops and threatens global food prices
Pastor Dale Morgan
US flooding ruins crops and threatens global food prices*
By Tom Leonard
Last Updated: 2:30AM BST 21/06/2008
Disastrous flooding in the US cornbelt this week will be felt worldwide
in higher food prices, farmers have warned.
Farmland flooded by the Mississippi river: US flooding ruins crops and
threatens global food prices
In Iowa officials estimate more than 5 million acres of crops have
either been flooded out or were never planted this spring
The floods, which began at the end of May, have killed 24 people and
caused damage estimated at billions of dollars. They have also dashed
hopes of a bumper harvest in the Midwest.
Donnie Miller, who has farmed in Iowa for three decades, said he had
never known such a disastrous year. Ever since the Iowa River, a
tributary of the Mississippi, flooded three weeks ago, much of his
1,400-acre maize and soya bean farm near Solon has been waterlogged.
"If the floods don't go away, nothing will get planted and it's getting
very late," said Mr Miller, who now estimates his maize harvest will be
down 50 per cent on last year.
"Anything that's growing is stunted. Normally it's chest-high at this
time of year. Now, it's five inches."
Bad weather – a cold spring followed by heavy rain – had already
prompted fears of a poor harvest even before the Mississippi broke its
banks so spectacularly that even President George W Bush came to see.
This year's maize (known in the US as corn), soya bean and rice crops
were all planted late because of the rain, increasing the likelihood of
a poor yield.
Now, the flooding that has swept through Iowa, Illinois and Missouri may
lead to the loss of up to five million acres of crops. Some
agriculturalists say that by the time the water recedes in the next week
or two, it will be too late for crop recovery or replanting.
While some experts dispute the comparisons that have been made with the
Great Depression, nobody denies that the repercussions will be felt far
beyond America. Its farmers produce 60 per cent of the maize traded
internationally, as well as a third of the soya beans, a quarter of the
wheat and a tenth of the rice.
Used for feeding livestock, food manufacturing and ethanol production,
maize is particularly in demand as global stocks are low. Rising maize
prices – which have quadrupled in 15 years – have had a knock-on effect
upon other crops like wheat as cattle farmers turn to them as alternatives.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation warned this week
that higher animal feed prices would continue to push up the price of meat.
Maize farmers aren't the only ones struggling. Wheat farmers in Oklahoma
and southern Kansas face storm forecasts that could make it difficult
for them to harvest their winter crop.
However, farming leaders are being optimistic, insisting that the
Midwest has merely fallen foul of a cyclical weather pattern that will
not happen again for years.
Ron Litterer, an Iowa farmer and president of the National Corn Growers
Association, said the weather appeared to have improved and that the
crucial month for maize was July. "Corn can catch up if we get the right
weather, so the jury is still out," he said.
Terry Francl, a senior economist at the Farm Bureau, the biggest US
farmers' organisation, predicted that the country's maize harvest would
be around 11 billion bushels this year compared to 13 billion last year.
Dismissing the relevance of global warming, he said that such wet
weather will not recur for another 10 or so years. However, he admitted
expectations that demand would fall as the price soared appeared to have
been premature.
"Stocks are going down to their lowest possible level," he said. "As
farmers say, we're down to sweeping the bin – literally."