((PKG)) MIDWEST FARM FLOODING
((Banner: Too Much))
((Reporter/Camera: Elizabeth Lee))
((Adapted by: Ailin Li))
((Map: Hooper, Nebraska))
((NATS))
((Tom Geisler, Fifth Generation Nebraska Farmer))
I guess I’m still absorbing all the loss that we have.
I’ve been farming for 43 years and I farm corn, soy beans, hay and cattle. The winter was real harsh. So, we had a lot of snow. The ground was all froze and then, when we had some rain two weeks ago, it melted all the snow at once, and that’s what caused all the floods. Everything ran off into the rivers. It was a mess. Never had anything like this before, not this kind of a flood.
((NATS))
((Brian Smith, National Weather Service Warning Coordination Meteorologist))
This is out of the ordinary. This is not a normal occurrence that takes place. Here was the worst case that you could ever think of to happen that caused numerous problems. We can’t really tell if it’s part of the long-term climate change, but that’s something that with climate change, you’re going to experience more extreme events taking place.
((NATS))
((Brian Smith, National Weather Service Warning Coordination Meteorologist))
We’re worried about any more heavy rain that would cause any of the rivers to flood. Also, we’ve had some levees that have been breached, broken, and levee systems in some areas are weakened because of all the water.
((NATS))
((Tom Geisler, Fifth Generation Nebraska Farmer))
Water was right up to here. Started about five o’clock in the afternoon, started creeping into the house, came up all night. That’s where it caved out. By Friday morning, we were surrounded. Couldn’t even get to my calves. It was five foot deep out there. I couldn’t feed them.
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((Tom Geisler, Fifth Generation Nebraska Farmer)) Bawling all night, just about made us heartbroken, but they survived. I thought they’d be gone.
((NATS))
((Tom Geisler, Fifth Generation Nebraska Farmer))
Two calves are completely gone. They floated away and two cows died.
((NATS))
((Tom Geisler, Fifth Generation Nebraska Farmer))
My cattle herd, hopefully they’ll survive. The rest of them will survive. They had a lot of stress on them for being in cold water for three days, three-and-a-half days, and now having little calves. Isn’t very many dry places for them to stand on. I’m making ends meet, so, so far they’re doing fine.
((NATS))
((Tom Geisler, Fifth Generation Nebraska Farmer))
I’m not sure what this spring’s going to bring us. It’ll be a late planting season because of all the debris out in the fields to clean up. You can see on that field there, see all that white? That’s all sand deposit from the river. Our fences are all gone in our pastures, so it’s going to be a long time before we can get cattle out to pastures, but hopefully with some help and mother nature, we can hopefully get back to normalcy a little bit. It’s going to be probably two or three years though before everything will come back the way it was at least.
((NATS))
((Tom Geisler, Fifth Generation Nebraska Farmer))
Just really be nice if we all had a patch of grass to hold some water back.
((Pop-Up Banner: Land with grass crops erodes less quickly than land with row crops))
((Tom Geisler, Fifth Generation Nebraska Farmer))
Too much land has been highly erodible that’s in row crops right now, I think. The price of corn is really good. Was that six years ago? Around $7 or $8 a bushel. I think a lot of grass acres got tilled up and put in corn acres just because of that reason. The export market was excellent. We had a good ethanol program going. Everybody was buying corn from us for a while. We knew it wasn’t going to last very long, and it didn’t. So now, it’s all row crops instead of grass.
((NATS))
((Steve Nelson, President, Nebraska Farm Bureau))
We’re the number two ethanol producing state. So, we’re significant producer of commodities, not just that are used in Nebraska, but that are used around the nation and around the world, and so we’ve seen some pretty major effects to all of those categories.
((NATS))
((Steve Nelson, President, Nebraska Farm Bureau))
We have tight margins in practically everything we grow and raise and so, the trade issues effect that as well. The storm just adds to the difficulty that’s there. Over 75% of the state has issues related to these storms.
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((Tom Geisler, Fifth Generation Nebraska Farmer))
This used to be my great grandfather’s place. He had lost it a long time ago and then it’s been resold and sold two other times and I finally bought it back in 1982. We’re gradually buying the land all around it, making some of our last payments on the land. So, it’s not easy though. Everything we make goes back into the land.
((NATS))
((Tom Geisler, Fifth Generation Nebraska Farmer))
I have two good boys, have a real good wife so, she has to work full time just to make ends meet. My youngest son wants to come back and farm. He’s gonna farm some this year with me. We’ve always been resilient, so hopefully, we can come back and farm some more. I’m the fifth generation of farmers, so hopefully, we can continue that trend. I don’t want to give up. Sometimes you feel like it, but I don’t want to. Sometimes it takes a toll on you, both mentally and physically.
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