How did the flooding affect area crops?

A field near Spillville

After touring several fields on Monday, ISU Extension Agronomist Brian Lang, who is headquartered in Decorah, says the damage from last week's flooding might be less than what he originally expected.

The floods of 2008 and 1993 ruined the corn crop, but Lang says this year's flood came later in the season--at a time when most of the corn was at early dent stage.  He believes the corn should survive the flooding, since the ears he saw in flooded fields still looked to be in good condition.

Lang says the flood waters appeared to drop quickly, which in most cases will minimize potential problems.  He adds that one of the biggest concerns might be whether the soil will dry out enough to allow combines to go onto the fields without getting stuck.

As for soybeans and alfalfa, Lang says the harvest might be smaller, but the flooding will not be fatal.  The silt covering flooded soybeans will reduce grain fill and seed size, leading to a smaller harvest, but crops can still be harvested.  Alfalfa can survive a few days under water, and this flooding seems to have receded fairly quickly.  However, silted forage is useless for feed and would require additional rains to wash silt off the plants.