U.S. Midwest Floods Delay Planting

Apr 22, 2013

Rain triggered floods postpone corn planting after drought

Much of the U.S. Midwest is experiencing floods, which was spurred by heavy rains last week and a forecast predicating rain into Tuesday. These rains are causing farmers to delay corn planting. The largest corn-growing states, Iowa and Illinois, are under flood warnings along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.

The April 17 and 18th rain storms dropped 5.4 inches in Chicago and about 6 inches in eastern Iowa which triggered floods further south. The rain flooding is impacting farmers who are still recovering from last year’s drought. The drought was deemed the worst drought in 50 years, which caused damage to crops.

U.S. Department of Agriculture data shows that corn planting in the two largest producing states was 2% complete as of April 14, which is behind last year’s pace of 16%. The cold, rainy weather is reducing the sum of corn acreage that would have otherwise been planted, which will likely increase the sum of acreage soybeans to be planted – since soybeans can be sown later than corn.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.