Resilience – it’s what keeps a farmer’s head above water, one local producer says, and it’s what has helped them recover from the flooding that overran the Chenango, Susquehanna and Unadilla river valleys one year ago.
On its own, Guilford dairy farmer Terry Ives says the flood was unprecedented but not devastating – in most cases. Rather, he contends it was the combination of last June’s losses, high fuel costs, and record-low milk prices that pushed farms to the brink.
“The flood was substantial in terms of the inconvenience of it,” says Ives, whose family owns and works roughly 200 acres in the hard hit areas of Unadilla and Otego. “But I think farmers are resilient and they take it in stride.”
Around 40,000 acres of farmland was submersed by water, according to Chenango County Farm Service Agency Director Robert Almeter, and an estimated $8 million worth of crops from 132 farms county-wide were destroyed. Emergency funding totaling $150,000 is being distributed by the agency to 15 applicants, the majority of whom are in the southeast corner of the county. Based on those applications, there were only 300 acres permanently lost.
“It was lousy timing,” said Almeter, pointing to the preexisting economic factors and crop devastation. “Unfortunately, that’s the cost of doing business if you live in a flood plain.”
Almeter said repairs, lost time and clean-up efforts have undoubtedly put added strain on farm budgets aside from the crop losses.
Dale Grover watched the Susquehanna River rush through his cornfield on state Rt. 41 in Afton for three days.
“High water is not unusual,” said Grover. “But the 28th of June, that’s unheard of. I’ve never seen a time when we’ve gotten seven inches of rain in 12 hours and I’ve lived here my whole life.”
The Afton farmer lost 300 acres of corn and 25 acres of soy beans, adding that the over 300 acres of crop that did survive wasn’t worth much.
“We lost virtually a year’s income,” he said.
Today Grover, like Ives, is still catching up financially but was able to plant a full crop this season, and admits he didn’t have to face the same clean-up issues – mostly gravel deposits, silt and other debris – that others did in the area. Overall, he said it’s been hard to notice residual impacts from the flood since the weather has been dry – the extreme opposite of last summer.
“It (the land) is different,” he said. “But it’s hard to say how different.”
Almeter says deposits of silt and particulate matter have created a “wax-like” seal that clogs the top soil and backs-up drainage – a problem that hasn’t been given a real chance to present itself considering the lack of rain.
“This year the weather conditions have masked the residual flood impacts,” he said.
Following a six month-long removal of gravel and debris from his Susquehanna River valley farmland, Ives has spotted new kinds of weeds popping up in the fields and uneven growing patterns in his corn. He’s also noticed that the river and stream channels are not as deep as they once were, meaning it will take less water to overflow the banks than it did last year.
“The flood makes you think a lot more about what water can do,” he said.
Ives has searched for the flood’s positive impacts. The Guilford farmer hopes that new layers of soil and new fertility show themselves in the near future. He’s already used gravel deposits to fill in low-spots on his farm.
“It’s still a learning curve,” he said, admitting he’s unsure if floods can be prevented, or if any good can come out of them.
By and large there’s been no significant decrease in this year’s crop production, Almeter said, acknowledging that a few farmers have scaled back or not rehabilitated their operations in light of clean-up and repair costs.
Grover believes it would take more than a flood to cripple the county’s agricultural community.
“You just gotta deal with it,” he said. “You wait until it’s over, see what you’re up against and hope to hell you can deal with it. The community here is going to deal with it. It’s being dealt with and it will be dealt with for a long while.”
“It’s over but it isn’t forgotten,” Grover said.
The USDA estimates that 20 upstate counties suffered $40 million in total damages to crops, livestock, structures and land. The department also estimates that 290,500 acres of crops and 28,250 acres of land were destroyed.