Crop losses to top around 180 million

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( pictured: Agronomist Chris Hurt)

June flooding has wiped out three-to-five-percent of Indiana‘s corn and soybean crop and two-percent of wheat, according to preliminary estimates by the Purdue Extension. Agronomist Chris Hurt says 2015 was shaping up as a better than average year until the rains came – He adds that the five percent figure is misleadingly low…

 

As much as 16 inches of rain fell this month in parts of the state. He says a 300-million-dollar loss in production will be partially offset by higher prices, but he still pegs the preliminary losses at 178-million. That figure will be tweaked further to account for crop insurance and increased costs, but Hurt says the net loss will still be “pretty devastating.”And Hurt notes the storms didn‘t hit all parts of Indiana equally. Particularly drenched areas, especially in northern Indiana, which will see heavier losses. Farmers in counties which lose 30-percent of their crop are eligible for disaster aid from the U-S Department of Agriculture. Officials are in the middle of calculating those numbers.