Recent extreme winter conditions in major wheat-producing states re-affirm the need for a 2018 Farm Bill and strong federal crop insurance program. According to Radiant Solutions, a data collection and analysis company based in Herndon, Virginia, “solid snow cover in the northern Plains and Midwest gave wheat fields enough protection from the bitter cold conditions, but temperatures that dipped as low as 40 degrees below zero did plenty of damage this past week in the central and southern Plains and southern Midwest.”
“To the best of our ability, wheat growers do what we can to mitigate risks on our farms,” said Gordon Stoner, President of the National Association of Wheat Growers and Outlook, Montana farmer. “However, we are still at the mercy of Mother Nature and strong Farm Bill safety net programs, like crop insurance, can help enable us to farm another year if hit by a devastating weather disaster.”
Radiant Solutions also reported that as a result of the unusually cold temperatures and snowy conditions, “damage occurred in about a quarter of the hard red wheat belt in the central Plains, with about 5 percent of the soft red wheat belt in the Midwest seeing impacts.” The company also predicts “additional winter kill in southern Indiana, southern Ohio, and northern Kentucky on Friday.”
Click here to see more...