Some farms in U.S. South hit by drought and floods in 2011
By JEANNIE NUSS
17 October 2011 KIBLER, Ark. — In a year when severe drought scorched the Southwest, a hurricane drowned crops in the East, and river flooding swamped farms in the Midwest, one of the worst places to be a farmer may be just west of the Mississippi River. Not only have Arkansas and Louisiana experienced both drought and flooding, but in some cases, so have individual farmers in those states. The cost of the bad weather could reach $1 billion. Jerry Gill estimated he lost $100,000. Flooding submerged the 150 acres where he usually plants corn and soybeans about 150 miles northwest of Little Rock. Then the drought dried up the pastures his cattle graze. At one point, Gill resorted to running a hose from his house so the skinny animals would have enough to drink. “It’s tough to grow anything when the temperature’s 114,” said Gill, 64, of Kibler. Flooding alone caused more than $500 million in losses in Arkansas, and tallies from the drought and other bouts of bad weather aren’t available yet, the state’s farm bureau said. In Louisiana, flooding and drought resulted in an estimated $440 million in losses and increased production costs, according to the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center. The damage is significant given that the two states typically produce more than 60 percent of the nation’s rice. Arkansas, the nation’s leading rice grower, lost about 300,000 acres this year to flooding, mostly from rivers. That’s about 10 percent of the total U.S. production, the farm bureau said. All of the two states were declared primary agricultural disaster areas. The only other state designated as such was tiny Rhode Island, whose farmers were swamped by Tropical Storm Irene. In other states, some counties were declared primary disaster areas and then neighboring counties also got benefits. In a letter to Arkansas’ governor, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack noted the state had been hit by one thing after the next, including “hail, high winds, flooding, widespread drought, and excessive heat.” Louisiana suffered much of the same — plus Tropical Storm Lee. […] Ted Glaser, 64, didn’t do much better with corn and soybeans. He lost 1,000 acres in May when the Morganza spillway, which diverts water from the Mississippi River, flooded. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened the spillway after snow melt and rain sent a torrent of water into the river. But elsewhere on his 3,300 acres near Oscar, La., Glaser fought drought and severe heat. “One side of the levee was flooded,” he said. “And everything outside the spillway was burning up.” […]
