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Balanced Reporting. Trusted Insights.
Friday, April 11, 2025
Rainstorms that began Tuesday and, in some cases, lasted through Sunday have devastated communities across the Mid-South, who are dealing with flooded homes and fields.
Key USDA watershed programs that fund agricultural waste management, water quality, and flood prevention projects would get $918 million through the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package awaiting a final House vote.
Countless deteriorating dams on rivers and old farm ponds out in the pastures are in escalating need of rebuilding before disaster strikes again. Some federal help is available for reservoir owners ready for the task.
Farmers who had crops damaged by drought or excessive moisture in 2018 or 2019 can start applying March 23 for disaster assistance authorized by Congress last year.
Farmers across the Midwest, where soils are already saturated, could face more widespread flooding this spring as rivers swell and winter storms continue, forecasters say.
The Agriculture Department will provide larger disaster-aid payments for losses in 2018 than for 2019 and will offer prevent-plant bonus payments of up to 15% for farmers who were unable to seed crops this spring due to the heavy Midwest flooding, according to rules announced Monday.
Twitter-transmitted pictures of spring 2019 in the Midwest have made my feed a stream of continuous heartbreak. Video after video of flooded fields and homes, stuck tractors, ruined crops, with pictures of tornado damage serving as the visual exclamation point to the slow-moving disaster that we’re living in the central part of the nation. We’ve have several hundred acres under water on our farm, our fields are dotted with wet spots and ruts, and we’re the fortunate ones, given what I see on my social media feed. It is a helpless feeling to watch as farmers and homeowners throughout the Midwest suffer from this disaster of historic proportions.
Agricultural sources often get blamed for polluting waterways, but this spring's flooding prompted several Midwestern cities and other sources to discharge a "witch’s brew" of pollutants into rivers and streams.
Leaders of the Army Corps of Engineers got an earful Wednesday from a small panel of lawmakers and a separate contingent of witnesses concerned about the management of floodwaters along the Missouri River.
