Floods may have damaged area wheat crop

During the recent flood, acres of area farmland wound up underwater. Waters have receded, but it's not clear what will become of the crops in those fields, or those that will be planted in the spring.

At the height of the flood, area wheat fields were flooded.

"Wheat crops can handle being submerged when temperatures are cold," said Anthony Ohmes, agronomy specialist at the University of Missouri Extension. But the warmer weather the region saw in December may have made the wheat less prepared for being under water.

"When you go into a flood situation, the warmer the soil, the more oxygen is needed," Ohmes said. "Summertime floods are the worst."

Although the floods have receded, that doesn't mean the problem is solved.

"There are areas that if they're not flooded, they still continue to be saturated," said Michael Aide, chairman of Southeast Missouri State University's Department of Agriculture.

The flood also brought sediment with it.

"I've seen winter wheat crops under a half an inch of mud, so it's buried," he said.

For producers concerned about their wheat crop, Ohmes recommends digging up and potting a small portion of it and bringing it inside to get an idea of how it may regrow by summer.

"But really, it's going to be hard to tell until we get warmer weather," said Ohmes.

Aide recommends at the end of February that producers test the soil for nitrates and base their fertilization on the results.

There are silver linings to a winter flood. According to Dave Reinbott, agriculture business specialist at the University of Missouri Extension, if it had happened in April or May, farmers could have lost a variety of crops, such corn and soybeans, instead of just damage to winter wheat.

"The biggest thing now is cleanup," Reinbott said. "There was debris left behind that will have to be taken off the field. They won't be able to do too much until the waters come down."

What will come of the spring crops remains unclear, but the outlook is good. If no additional major weather systems affect the area, those lands could be suitable for planting in the spring, said Aide.

"If anything, we could see a benefit, because the soil will be fully charged with water. So if we have a dry spring and a dry summer, at least we'll have the benefit of having fully charged soil going into the planting season," he said. "So there may be a silver lining. I'm always an optimist."

bbrown@semissourian.com

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