US MidWest Flooding Threatens Food Production

A “bomb cyclone” brought 

hurricane-force winds 

and blizzard conditions 

to the middle of the nation,

setting off catastrophic flooding.

Now melting snow from one 

of the snowiest winters in decades 

is going to be feeding into rivers 

that have already set flood records.

As all of that snow melts, 

we'll  have an agricultural disaster.

The crisis is not over.  

Flooding could last all spring.

Snowmelt and spring rains 

could create additional flooding 

because of compromised levees.

This was one of the worst winters 

for the middle part of the country 

in decades.

At least 91% of the upper Midwest 

and Great Plains was snow covered 

to an average depth of 10.7 inches, 

according to the U.S. National 

Operational Hydrologic Remote 

Sensing Center in Chanhassen,

Minnesota. 

The center tracks 

snow nationwide 

and sends out airplanes 

to measure its depth.

Millions of acres of farmland 

are underwater, and that is not 

going to change soon. 

When the flood waters came, 

they picked up pigs and 

baby calves and carried 

them along.

Roads, rail lines 

and entire small towns 

have been washed away.

There were losses of massive 

stockpiles of wheat, corn 

and soybeans that had 

already been harvested.  

Farmers watched helplessly 

as the waters consumed their fields, 

and their stockpiles of grain.

“I’ve never seen anything 

like this in my life,” 

said Tom Geisler, 

a farmer in Winslow, Nebraska, 

who said he lost two full 

storage bins of corn. 

“We had been depending on 

the income from our livestock, 

but now all of our feed is gone, 

so that is going to be even 

more difficult."

"We haven’t been making 

any money from our 

grain farming because of 

trade issues and low prices.”

According to the U.S. Food 

and Drug Administration, 

flood-soaked wheat, corn 

and soybeans are considered 

to be “adulterated” 

and they must be destroyed.

And thanks to the trade war 

with China, farmers had a huge 

amount of wheat, corn 

and soybeans stored on 

their farms !

As of Dec. 1, producers in states 

with flooding – including South Dakota, 

Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, 

Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin and Illinois 

– had 6.75 billion bushels of corn, 

soybeans and wheat stored 

on their farms – 38% of the total 

U.S. supplies available at that time, 

according to U.S. Department of 

Agriculture data.

Fremont County farmers estimate 

about 390,000 bushels of 

stored soybeans and about 

1.2 million bushels of stored corn 

are under water. 

This has been a massive blow 

to U.S. food production.

Doug and Eric Alberts 

lost nearly 700 animals 

to the floodwaters that hit

their nine acre farm.

The family estimates they were

only able to save 14 out of 700 

of their livestock.

“About a 3-foot wall (of water)

… 100-foot wide … just flowing 

over the road,” Doug recalled.

Within minutes, 

seven feet of water 

covered their farm.

Even before the flooding, 

farm bankruptcies had hit 

the highest level since 

the Great Recession !

The flooding is also causing 

massive topsoil erosion.  

The Midwest has 

one of the globe’s 

greatest stores of topsoil, 

more than half of which 

has been lost 

in the past 50 years. 

Just a couple feet of soil 

stand between prosperity 

and desolation.

Prices at the grocery store 

are going to start rising soon.

This disaster is going to have 

a dramatic impact on our 

ability to grow our own food, 

even if everything went perfectly

 rom this point forward.

Fields that are normally used 

for growing beans, corn, and grain,

under tons of snow, or several feet 

of water, will most likely 

not produce a crop this year.