ASSESSMENT OF DAMAGE TO BOOTHEEL FARMS REQUESTED

Water, water everywhere.

That's what some farmers experienced in Southeast Missouri in recent weeks as storms flooded fields.

Gov. Mel Carnahan asked the federal Farm Service Agency on Monday to assess damages to agriculture in seven Southeast Missouri counties to see if the counties would be eligible for disaster assistance.

The seven counties are Butler, Dunklin, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Scott and Stoddard.

Continued rains and flash flooding have kept farmers from planting crops and have severely damaged crops in parts of the state.

The seven counties bring to 65 the number of Missouri counties that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been asked to assess.

Missouri has experienced tornadoes, high winds, heavy rains, damaging hail and flooding since mid-April. The bad weather has resulted in major agricultural losses, Carnahan said. The most significant damages occurred to crops and farm buildings and equipment.

A disaster declaration would make farmers eligible for financial assistance in the form of low-interest loans.

Carnahan said he hopes to have a response from the federal government within the next few weeks.

"Missourians have learned that flooding can have a devastating impact on farmers as farming expenses will continue even though their crop has been destroyed," Carnahan said.

Tim Schnakenberg keeps track of agriculture in Mississippi County as an agronomist with the Extension Service office in Charleston. "We have had problems from the start here," he said.

The weather-related problems began in April and have extended through the summer, said Schnakenberg. "We have had off and on flooding, excessive rain and then drought."

He said weather prevented many farmers from getting their soybeans planted in June.

"A lot of farmers had to replant several times," he said. Wet weather hampered efforts to grow soybeans. Many of them didn't make it out of the ground."

The wet weather of May and June was followed by weeks of dry weather. "Then last week there was quite a bit of rain through here," he said.

Schnakenberg said some soybean crops in Mississippi County didn't get planted until mid-July.

Farmers could face difficulty harvesting such a late crop. "If we have an early frost, we could be in trouble," he said.

Steve Morrison directs the USDA's Farm Service office in Stoddard County. Morrison said there were reports that as much as 10 to 11 inches of rain fell on some farms within the last week. Much of the rain fell on an area between Bloomfield and Poplar Bluff, he said.

The area had experienced dry weather for five or six weeks before the heavy rains came, Morrison said.

"It is kind of feast or famine," said Morrison.

Southern Scott County also experienced heavy rains.

"We went from really dry to really wet in just about a week," said agronomist Warren Cork of the Extension Service office in Benton.