Livestock sector took mostly indirect flood damage
6:22 PM
By Fred Love Journal Des Moines Bureau | Posted: Wednesday, November 19, 2008
DES MOINES n Iowa’s livestock industry dodged a bullet during this year’s historic floods by taking only minimal direct damage, said a state agriculture official on Wednesday.
But the disasters took an indirect toll on the industry this summer by flooding farmland and driving up feed costs, said Harold Hommes, agricultural marketing bureau chief for the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.
Hommes told a panel of state lawmakers that this year’s floods and storms devastated farmland in portions of the state, but livestock producers in the most affected areas managed to avoid serious losses by transporting thousands of animals to safer locations.
“In 24 or 48 hours, thousands and thousands of stock were moved on very short order,” he said.
Hommes said state livestock farmers lost around 4,000 hogs as a result of the disasters and 21 confinements were inundated with water, but the toll would have been far worse if not for those farmers who evacuated animals to safety.
A steep jump in the cost of grain following the disasters sent shockwaves through the livestock industry, he said.
Corn prices rose to around $7 a bushel near the end of June, setting off a steep climb in feed prices that made for a painful summer for livestock producers.
Early estimates that more than 3 million acres of farmland had been flooded drove the increase in grain prices, but many of those acres were replanted, Hommes said, and grain prices have stabilized since then.
“The really tragic impact was because of the perceived shortness of millions of acres of Iowa farmland that impacted the grain markets,” he said.
Producers are still coping with those high feed prices, and Hommes said hog farmers nationwide may have to cut back on production before the market fully recovers.
“I think there will be rewards at the end of the day for pork producers,” he predicted.
Hommes made his presentation before a legislative committee studying the effects of the disasters on livestock and agriculture in the state.
The committee scheduled hearings for Wednesday and Thursday to gather testimony from a variety of state and federal agricultural experts.
State Sen. David Johnson, R-Ocheyedan, a member of the committee, said the hearings have shown lawmakers that some areas of the state are in dire need of governmental help for local agriculture.
“We’re in a very volatile time in agriculture, and everybody knows that we’re still in for a real roller-coaster ride,” Johnson said.
He said lawmakers are still forming their disaster relief plans for the upcoming legislative session beginning in January, but he said agriculture must make up a significant portion of the Legislature’s disaster recovery strategy.
“There’s nothing on paper that I’ve seen yet as far as a specific legislative proposal, but when that comes, we have to be looking at agriculture and the industries that support agriculture in the state,” Johnson said.
Fred Love can be reached at (515) 243-0138 or fred.love@lee.net.
But the disasters took an indirect toll on the industry this summer by flooding farmland and driving up feed costs, said Harold Hommes, agricultural marketing bureau chief for the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.
Hommes told a panel of state lawmakers that this year’s floods and storms devastated farmland in portions of the state, but livestock producers in the most affected areas managed to avoid serious losses by transporting thousands of animals to safer locations.
“In 24 or 48 hours, thousands and thousands of stock were moved on very short order,” he said.
Hommes said state livestock farmers lost around 4,000 hogs as a result of the disasters and 21 confinements were inundated with water, but the toll would have been far worse if not for those farmers who evacuated animals to safety.
A steep jump in the cost of grain following the disasters sent shockwaves through the livestock industry, he said.
Corn prices rose to around $7 a bushel near the end of June, setting off a steep climb in feed prices that made for a painful summer for livestock producers.
Early estimates that more than 3 million acres of farmland had been flooded drove the increase in grain prices, but many of those acres were replanted, Hommes said, and grain prices have stabilized since then.
“The really tragic impact was because of the perceived shortness of millions of acres of Iowa farmland that impacted the grain markets,” he said.
Producers are still coping with those high feed prices, and Hommes said hog farmers nationwide may have to cut back on production before the market fully recovers.
“I think there will be rewards at the end of the day for pork producers,” he predicted.
Hommes made his presentation before a legislative committee studying the effects of the disasters on livestock and agriculture in the state.
The committee scheduled hearings for Wednesday and Thursday to gather testimony from a variety of state and federal agricultural experts.
State Sen. David Johnson, R-Ocheyedan, a member of the committee, said the hearings have shown lawmakers that some areas of the state are in dire need of governmental help for local agriculture.
“We’re in a very volatile time in agriculture, and everybody knows that we’re still in for a real roller-coaster ride,” Johnson said.
He said lawmakers are still forming their disaster relief plans for the upcoming legislative session beginning in January, but he said agriculture must make up a significant portion of the Legislature’s disaster recovery strategy.
“There’s nothing on paper that I’ve seen yet as far as a specific legislative proposal, but when that comes, we have to be looking at agriculture and the industries that support agriculture in the state,” Johnson said.
Fred Love can be reached at (515) 243-0138 or fred.love@lee.net.
Story Comments
Read More and Post Comments 0 comment(s)
Please note: The following are comments from readers. In no way do they represent the views of The Sioux City Journal or Lee Enterprises. We will not edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to not post or to remove comments that violate our code of conduct. No comment may contain potentially libelous statements; obscene, explicit or racist language; personal attacks, insults or threats. Terms of Service
