Rising waters sink expected corn yield, boost prices

By Nate Legue

BusinessRockford.com

A wet spring and rising rivers have local farmers worrying about diminished crop yields in their oversaturated fields.

But more catastrophic damage to crops in flood-ravaged areas across the Midwest could make up for it as expected shortages push corn prices to new records.

Larry Larson farms about 2,000 acres around Pecatonica, but at least 100 acres of it is submerged because of the Pecatonica River’s rising backwaters.

“It has just been up all spring, and it was just getting down to where we thought we could get to planting those areas,” Larson said.

Underwater crops die off within a few days because they can’t photosynthesize, but even water-saturated soil can damage plants. It loses its oxygen after a couple of days, which prevents the plants from taking up nutrients. The water also can cause nitrogen — an important nutrient — to leach away, leaving yellowish leaves and possibly smaller yields at harvest time.

“Every acre counts,” Larson said. “You’ve already got all the expenses in it. You’ve got that many acres (with) no returns. It drives down your average yield. The soil is so saturated that land that isn’t flooded is affected. ... Bottom line: There’s just been too darn much rain in the last couple weeks, and it takes its toll.”

The toll of rainfall here isn’t nearly as severe as in Iowa, where agricultural experts estimate as much as 20 percent of the state’s crop production may be lost. Corn futures shot up this week on the news, sending the price for a bushel for December delivery to $7.76 Tuesday at the Chicago Board of Trade. Just last month, futures were still trading below $6.

But without U.S. Department of Agriculture crop damage estimates, which are expected Friday, it will be hard to know just how drastically the flood-related losses will affect the season’s harvest.

“We’re just as curious as anybody else to know what’s going on,” said Adam Nielsen, spokesman for the Illinois Farm Bureau. “That’s the question we’re going to have to wait to answer.”

Still, higher prices could make up for lower yields in rain-soaked fields here in northern Illinois, which has been “one of the better spots in the country” for crop farming because it escaped the most catastrophic floods, said Earl Williams, president of the Winnebago County Farm Bureau.

But compared with last year, which Williams called “a perfect growing season,” the crops don’t seem quite as robust.

“The rains here definitely have delayed the crops some,” Williams said. “The crops aren’t as far along as they have been last three, four years in development. The cornfields don’t look the healthy green they should at this time.”

Staff writer Nate Legue may be reached at 815-987-1346 or nlegue@rrstar.com.