The spring flooding along the Missouri River cost Nebraska nearly $189 million in lost agricultural crop sales and related economic activity, Nebraska Farm Bureau said in announcing the results of a study it commissioned this summer.
The study looked at 14 counties along the Missouri River which border South Dakota or Iowa. Jay Rempe, an agricultural economist and vice president/governmental relations for Nebraska Farm Bureau, gives us a look at the numbers.
The study also estimated the crop income indirectly lost in these counties resulted in nearly $57.8 million in wages that would have been generated from the growing of crops and supporting activities if the flooding hadn’t occurred. Rempe tells us which counties are seeing the greatest impact when it comes to losses.
Nebraska’s net farm income for 2011 also will be affected, with the flooding accounting for a more than $41 million less than expected if there had there been no flooding event. The study looked only at lost crops but Rempe says there are other costs to think about in this
equation.
Farmers who were affected will be dealing with the effects of the flood and lower crop yields for years to come. And that will mean less economic activity in eastern Nebraska for several years. Rempe explains how that will shape future policy discussions.
The study was conducted by Decision Innovation Solutions of Urbandale, Iowa, which also studied the economic impacts of the flooding on Iowa, on behalf of the Iowa Farm Bureau. The flood’s impact on six Iowa southwestern counties was pegged at $207 million.
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