The Michigan Agri-Business Association is assessing crop damage in five counties hardest hit by last week’s flooding.
Ag leaders say the damage was nothing like 1986, when historic floods decimated crops in some 30 counties. The association credits the outcome this time to improved land management practices. Corn, soybeans and sugar beets are generally OK, but dry beans appear to be hardest hit.
“Maybe 10 percent of our crop is lost to drown-out, maybe another 10 or 15 percent is sitting on the bubble,” says Michigan Bean Commission executive director Joe Cramer. “They’re yellow, some are deteriorating and some are getting better. So, we don’t know what’s going to become of that.”
Officials say they won’t be able to make a full assessment of the crop loss in Michigan until January, after harvest season.
