The wettest 12 months on record in the continental U.S. are thwarting the spring corn crop and triggering insurance claims
By Jacob Bunge and Kirk Maltais June 5, 2019 5:30 a.m. ET Heavy rains have left fields saturated throughout the critical planting period for corn. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images Millions of farm acres are set to go unplanted with corn this spring as persistent wet weather leaves U.S. farmers facing an agonizing choice: whether or not to risk trying to raise a crop.
Each morning over the last week of May, Scott VanderWal climbed into his red Dodge pickup to check whether his fields had dried out enough to plant. Of the 1,300 acres Mr. VanderWal and his family farm near Volga, S.D., only about 600 have been sown. This week, he plans to report an insurance claim for his remaining corn fields, he said.
While some farmers may gamble on a late-planted crop that could yield a fraction of a typical harvest, many will turn to crop insurance that pays out when farmers are unable to plant by a preset deadline. Farmers also are weighing the promise of another multibillion-dollar trade rescue package from the USDA, and potential funding from federal disaster recovery legislation. The Trump administration last year directed $12 billion in federal aid toward the U.S.
Time also is running short to claim and collect on insurance policies. Farmers in the northwestern corn belt had a deadline of May 25 to file such claims, while those in Iowa, the biggest corn-producing state, needed to file by May 31. In Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan, the deadline is Wednesday.
Such insurance coverage usually doesn’t match what a farmer would make growing an average crop. For an acre that would have yielded roughly $800 growing corn this year, a typical prevented-planting insurance policy would pay approximately $368, according to estimates from the University of Illinois.
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