By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Some 330,000 acres of Illinois crop fields have been affected by recent flooding and late planting because of an inclement spring, according to an Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB) representative.

John Hawkins, IFB communications director, said he came to that conclusion by considering figures from USDA’s most recent crop acreage report, which reflected a 2 percent drop in total planted acreage considered harvestable in Illinois.

“Comparing the most recent report with figures from the same time in 2007 shows that right around 330,000 acres have been impacted,” he said.

“A more thorough survey will be conducted in mid-July and the results will be included in the August crop report. We should have a much more accurate picture then.”

Hawkins said he had no information indicating how much the idling of barges on the Mississippi River has cost agricultural commerce, but added “there is not a lot of (shipping) activity in the summer,” so losses could be minimal.

The Associated Press reported on Sunday that the last of the Mississippi River navigational locks closed to barges due to flooding reopened last weekend.

Jennifer Godfrey of the Army Corps of Engineers said locks in Clarksville and Winfield, Mo., have reopened, though commercial traffic at the St. Louis port is restricted to daytime.

“It will probably be a few more days before barges are back in full operation,” Hawkins said.

As the river swelled to its highest point in southwestern Illinois and northeastern Missouri last week, officials in Gulfport in Henderson County, Ill., cut holes through a levee to allow water to drain from some 28,000 acres of crop fields swamped in up to 13 feet of water. Floodwater washed away a large portion of a railroad bed that acted as a levee and swamped two drainage districts there.

“It would take over 500 days to pump the water back to the river,” said Army Corps of Engineers Commander Robert Sinkler, explaining the Corps’ decision to drill into the levee.
13 counties eligible for aid

The IFB reported the U.S. Senate recently cleared $2.65 billion for Midwest flood relief after President Bush designated 13 Illinois counties as eligible for federal disaster assistance.

The Senate voted 94-6 to affirm an earlier approval from the U.S. House of Representatives to budget $897 million in FEMA spending and $300 million for the Corps of Engineers to rebuild levees and locks. Also receiving funding were the USDA and the Small Business Administration, for immediate agricultural and community needs.
Illinois counties declared eligible were Clark, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Jasper, Lawrence, Adams, Calhoun, Hancock, Henderson, Mercer, Pike and Rock Island.

The IFB also reported that Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and a group of bipartisan Illinois House members have asked USDA Secretary Ed Schafer to utilize the recently-settled farm bill’s permanent disaster program for the current crop year. In addition, the group asked Schafer to waive crop insurance late planting penalties for soybeans and allow earlier haying and grazing on CRP acres this year.

Before the recently enacted permanent disaster program can be utilized, USDA will have to first write its regulations.