Active flooding is still underway in parts of Iowa due to the more than 15 inches of rain that fell on parts of the state, particularly the northwest region, over the weekend, according to Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig.
“There were folks literally being rescued off of rooftops and flown out of the flooded areas,” Naig told AgriTalk Host Chip Flory on Tuesday. “After a couple of days, we will be able to come in and start to get a sense of what the enormity of what’s happened is and the size of the impact on the ag landscape.”
The devastation led to a disaster proclamation from Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and the evacuation of thousands of Iowa residents from the area.
Naig said when he talked with Reynolds early Tuesday morning, she described the damage from the rains and flooding as “extensive.” The flooding is still underway, with rivers in north-central Iowa now starting to crest, according to the National Water Prediction Service.
Naig said state officials won’t have a full sense of the crop damage or number of livestock lost in the region until the flood waters recede.
“This was already a wet part of the state, where there were some challenges around planting and replanting. They’ve just been inundated with rain throughout the spring,” Naig said.
“What we’re hearing about, certainly, is damaged and destroyed equipment. There are livestock facilities that folks are having trouble getting feed to because of washed-out roads, and there are power outages and water outages. These are just some of the things that are really challenging.”
Added Stress On Dairies
For dairy producers in northwest Iowa, the floods arrived on top of challenges they already faced from dealing with cases of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N1) or efforts to prevent the occurrence of the disease.
“Unfortunately, a lot of our cases are in dairies up in that area,” Naig said. “Think of the added stress that those folks are experiencing right now.”
Naig said, in total, Iowa has confirmed 11 dairies and three poultry sites where H5N1 has been found.
“Don’t be surprised if you continue to hear about some additional cases in the state of Iowa, because here’s the point – we’re looking for it,” Naig said. “Our farmers are testing. Turns out, when you look for it, you can find it. I think this is a little wider spread than maybe what is just being confirmed.”
Naig said he commends the Iowa dairy industry for being proactive in reporting any positive cases. When cases are confirmed, he said the state can bring in a USDA epidemiological strike team to look for clues to how H5N1 is being transmitted.
“If we’re going to experience the pain of having positive cases, let’s learn as much as we can, so that we can craft biosecurity strategies to address those things that are found to be the cause of transmission,” he said.
Wide Range Of Symptoms And Outcomes
Naig added that the scope of H5N1 infections has varied between farms as well as in individual animals.
“I think maybe early on, folks said, ‘Oh, it’s really just a kind of a minimal milk production loss, and then everything gets back to normal.’ I don’t think it’s quite that way,” he said. “Some (producers) aren’t seeing clinical signs while others see acute infections and significant milk losses. We are also hearing about some cattle mortality, though it’s maybe because of a secondary infection or condition that actually causes that mortality.”
Naig told Flory he has asked USDA to provide compensation for animals that Iowa producers have had to cull or where death occurred.
“We continue to make that request because we are seeing some losses, but that’s still a work in progress,” he said. “And, of course, again, we’re trying to get research on the ground to determine how H5N1 is behaving. The other thing is we can’t treat this as a dairy disease. It is a dairy and a poultry issue. We’ve got to think about the larger livestock industry. That’s how we’re approaching it here.”
The conversation between Naig and Flory is available in its entirety below:
A Tale Of Two Crops: Farmers Struggle Against Flooding And Drought
Goodbye, El Niño. Hello, La Niña? The Big Transition to La Niña is Already Underway
