News

Missouri farmer watches for water from the north

A farmer in the path of high water says he lives with the possibility of his place being under water.

“We realize there’s a lot of water that has to come our way,” said Todd Gibson, whose farm in western Missouri hugs the Missouri River.

“We monitor daily now and they upgrade the forecast,” Gibson told Brownfield Ag News, “and if the forecasts are correct, then we might be ok and let that flush on through, but that could change.”

The water is currently high, but a couple of feet below the top of the levee. Gibson tells Brownfield the longer it’s consistently at that level, the greater the chances of a levee failure.

“Even if it doesn’t top any levees here it’s going to be quite a while before we get in the fields,” he said, “just because the river’s going to stay high and the ground is saturated,”

Gibson keeps a wary eye on excess water arriving from last week’s floods in Nebraska and South Dakota, adding, “We’re not out of the woods yet.”