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Challenges in the Missouri River bottoms

Adam Casner, Cab Conversations participant

This planting season has had its challenges for farmers across the Corn Belt.

Much of west central Missouri farmer Adam Casner’s corn crop is at least partially underwater. As he tells Brownfield, it never is a good time for the crop to be underwater – but he’s especially worried right now.  “A lot of our corn is V3 to V4 stage and right now the plant is determining its ear girth,” he says.  “But currently it’s focusing on trying to survive standing in water and it’s not living the happy, healthy life we want it to.”

Because Casner farms in flat river bottoms along the Missouri River – the water doesn’t to run off naturally – so they rely on man-made ditches, water pumps, and flood gates to control the amount of water that ends up on the crop.  “If there’s water present, there’s not oxygen present in the roots,” he says.  “And it’s detrimental to our crop and why we work so hard to get the water off as quickly as we can.”

The river crested earlier this week – and has been on the decline.  But he says, that can change quickly with a single rainfall.

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