Here, in some of the best soil in the world, the stunted stalks of Dave Timmerman’s newly planted corn are wilting in what sometimes look more like rice paddies than the plains, the sunshine glinting off of pools of collected water. Although time is running out, he has yet to plant all of his soybean crop because the waterlogged soil cannot support his footsteps, much less heavy machinery.
Timmerman’s small farm has been flooded four times in the past month by the Wildcat Creek, a tributary of the Cedar River which overflowed its banks at a record 31 feet last week, causing catastrophic damage in nearby Cedar Rapids and other eastern Iowa towns and farmsteads.
“In the lean years, we had beautiful crops but they weren’t worth much,” Timmerman said, surveying his farm, which his family has tended since his great-great-grandfather. “Now, with commodity prices sky high, mother nature is throwing us all these curve balls. I’m 42 years old and these are by far the poorest crops I’ve ever seen.”
And he added, “It’s going downhill by the day.”
As the floodwaters receded in some areas, they rose in others.
Over 15% of Iowa’s tillable farmland is under water. My grandparents are farmers in SW Iowa, which was not hit nearly as bad as Eastern Iowa (where I grew up), and they still have some property under water. Some farmers still don’t have their crops planted, and who knows how long it will be until the ground is dry enough to plant?