Iowa storm damage still being assessed, toxins a concern

Those in the field of journalism are tapping into a whole new set of vocabulary while reporting on the world happenings in 2020. Pandemic, social distancing and COVID-19 would have needed a definition next to their first mention in years previous, but they have become common knowledge words in the onslaught of news stories circulating in 2020.

But now we have a new word to add to the 2020 vocab list: derecho. On Aug. 10, a severe storm now labeled a derecho—defined as a band of storms that have winds of at least 58 miles per hour and maintained for at least six hours—barreled through a 700-mile path from Nebraska to Indiana, hammering homes, destroying power lines and pulverizing corn and soybean fields.

“We’ve been dealing with an unprecedented situation on top of another unprecedented situation and that of course being the COVID-19 supply chain disruption on top of now weather events that are starting to compound,” said Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig. “It’s not that we’re not used to dealing with adverse weather conditions, what’s unique is we’re not used to dealing with adverse weather conditions over such a wide swath of area in the state of Iowa.”

Naig said the Iowa Department of Agriculture has estimated 3.5 to 4 million acres of corn and 2.5 million acres of soybeans were in the damage path. The corn crop is expected to incur much more damage than the soybean crop. Adversely, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency has estimated 14 million acres of crops in the areas affected by the storm, so the damage and number of acres lost are uncertain at this point.

“We know there are conversations going on with crop insurance companies and adjusters across the state,” Naig said. “We are starting to hear of some of those fields being declared total losses and seeing farmers out destroying those crops. We have a lot of folks waiting and trying to make determinations of what will happen. And everyone is thinking about what their harvest will look like and of course those decisions affect the 2021 crop as well.”

Drought and mold equal bad news

According to Naig, if nothing else were happening in the state of Iowa as far as the coronavirus, social justice protests, an election year and a major storm, the significant drought in the Hawkeye State would be a major talking point.

“We have a significant D3 drought and a recently released drought monitor showed the most wide-spread drought in the state of Iowa since September 2013,” Naig explained. “We’ve got a slight improvement in some counties, but generally we’ve been seeing an expansion. At least 90% of the state of Iowa is classified at some stage of drought.”

Charles Hurburgh, professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering at Iowa State University and professor-in-charge of the Iowa Grain Quality Initiative, referred to the combination of the drought and the recent storms as a double whammy that will create complex challenges for use and marketing down the road.

“The drought reduces yield and also raises the potential for some yield issues, such as stunted growth and toxin development,” Hurburgh said. “A lot of the drought-damaged corn is still standing so it is probably still at least harvestable.”

The corn that was laid on the ground will probably not finish filling out, therefore will be soft and hard to store, he said. The storm on the other hand, laid over all those acres, which essentially stopped the crop development immediately as opposed to the drought where the plant has a little bit of time to shut down.

 “We have a large grain quality issue—it’s probably the largest one I’ve seen and the largest area I’ve seen with multiple problems and that’s what makes it more of a challenge,” Hurburgh said.

According to Naig, when grain is on the ground, there is strong potential for certain types of mold species to develop when grain is in a high humidity situation. In that case, the primary toxin is fumonisin, which is a mycotoxin that has guidance limits for most livestock species, most notably horses, and can make humans ill as well. It can cause porcine pulmonary edema and equine leukoencephalomalacia, commonly caused by moldy corn poisoning. Naig said it can be fed in the hog market with appropriate management.

Another toxin that could affect this corn crop is aflatoxin, which is subject to Food and Drug Administration regulations, that other toxins do not face. It is often an issue in drought or stressed areas where conditions remain moist and hot for a long period of time. Naig said aflatoxins have the lowest tolerance levels and sensitivity in animals and people. Because of this, it would not be advised for use in poultry, dairy or any kind of food use. The general recommended use is for fat cattle because they have a higher tolerance.

“What we’re really trying to do is keep the bad grain out of the general commerce and let it be used where it can and not impact the general market,” Hurburgh explained.

Hurburgh advised Iowa growers to walk around their fields and look for mold growing on ears of corn. He said one issue with grain quality is that it is constantly changing.

“You and your adjuster need to work closely on timing of making those evaluations so that they don’t get out of sync and you show up at an elevator with an elevated toxin level that wasn’t assessed when the adjuster took their sample,” Hurburgh said. “If you are going to feed the grain yourself, consult with your veterinarian or nutritionist and make sure to test for the composition of the protein and oil and the toxin levels.”

What is the long-lasting impact?

The big question is what will this disaster mean for the corn supply? Fortunately Naig has some reassuring comments on that subject.

“There will definitely be an impact on supply, but we need to remember we are coming off of a year where we were carrying historic levels of last year’s corn into this year,” Naig explained. “So when you look at the big picture, we’ve had reduced exports because of a global pandemic and less corn ground and made into ethanol because of the impact on that industry, so we have a supply of corn in the U.S. to do everything we want to do, so I’m not concerned. We can weather this storm, it’s just when you get into multiple years of these types of things that you start to have supply issues,”

Another topic Naig addressed is the storage issue. Many of the photos floating around social media and news stations depicted grain bins that looked like they had been through a garbage disposal, leading to an all important question, will this affect storage?

“We think there is 100 to 120 million stored bushels—not counting losses from the drought—that have been destroyed, but that’s less than the estimated impact in grain loss so in the overall, we will probably not have a net storage crunch,” Naig said.

Naig suggested that farmers who lost their storage bins use a silo bag option if they have dry corn. They could also make some temporary grain storage piles in sheds or other areas. Naig said because of the stress from the drought and the storm, the grain harvested in 2020 will be stored for as short a time as possible to prevent more problems from developing. In the meantime, Naig said the IDA is paving the way for more disaster funding.

“We’re continuing to work on disaster relief with the governor’s office, our congressional delegation and USDA,” Naig said. “There are some programs USDA can bring that already exist that farmers can have access to and then there are some pieces that we think will require congressional action, such as supplemental disaster payments on top of crop insurance payments.”

Lacey Newlin can be reached at 620-227-1871 or [email protected].