Flooding and Agriculture?

Question

when the Midwest gets flooding,

do the farmers store lots of the water.

so they don't need to complain when they don't get rain?

Answer 1

Lazydays has the best answer but i will add one thing. Flood water is contaminated water. Flood water has sewage, gasoline, ag chemicals, industrial chemicals, dead bodies, etc You do not want to use this water for storage or irrigation.

as has been said it is about impossible to store enough water for a 1500 acre farm. the farmer would need at least 1 million gallons in storage capacity and that would use up a lot of room now put in crops and not be very effective.

It is amazing how disconnected people are from farming and now they are vilifying farmers. Nice, remember we farmers grow the food YOU eat. You might want to be a bit nicer.

Answer 2

I agree with lazydays.  I could not have worded it better.

Answer 3

lazydays gave you a better and more polite answer than I would have. You asked a very hurtful and insensitive question about about farmers who have been devastated by the flooding, many of which will not be able to stay in business.

Answer 4

lazydays has the answer adjust the cost from 500,000 to 750,000 and its perfect

Answer 5

If you are one of the unlucky to have had your field flooded for any length of time you don't have to worry about water, just trying to get the insurance companies to pay off on crop insurance IF you had it will be enough to occupy you. Hardly would they be bothered by irrigation or the few city fools who complain about the cost of food, those who have no idea what it's like to be a farmer worried about how they will make ends meet now that they can't get a crop in, or harvested now that their seed is dead. One might, if they had any compassion, worry about all the farmers whose families will have to struggle threw all the ruined land, the following winter, and whether they can find the cash to pay off the bank so the land doesn't get seized and sold out from under them. Kind of like being a city boy who looses his job and has to go stand at the food pantry so the kids can eat, or beg at the church for hand me downs so they don't stand out in the inner city "I got gold round my neck and you don't" crowd of kids.

Answer 6

I will not get best answer for this, but....  It seems that you have some misconception of the farm community.  When the Midwest floods, you are seeing captions on the news outlets that are primarily the lowlands along creeks, rivers, etc. which can be a financial hardship for the farmers in those areas.  Much of the Midwest has received too much rain, yet not "flooding" and is equally having a difficult time getting their crops in the fields.

I do not follow your thought process that "farmers store lots of water"...  It would be impossible to store the amount of water required to raise a crop of corn or soybeans.  The midwest is relatively flat with creeks and rivers to drain water away, not to store and use at a later date.

Also, I am troubled with your thoughts that farmers "complain" when they don't get sufficient rainfall to produce a crop.  Farming is their livelihood and most farmer's have to borrow money to plant a crop, buy seed, fertilizer, herbicides, machinery and when all of the inputs are put towards their crops and the one item that they cannot control is rainfall and it is short due to a dry year, they stand to loose and be placed in financial hardships.  It may cost upwards of $500,000 for the input costs on a 1500 acre farm.  Many farms are larger than this and put more on the line, just to grow a crop and provide the food that you will consume tonight for your dinner.  You seem to lack the appreciation for the folks who will spend much of their lives with massive  financial challenges to grow the crops and provide for your food and fiber.  Hopefully you are not as ungrateful as you sound.