A look at flooding along the Missouri River

<p>The Spiegel family (left to right), brothers Kyle and Andy and their father, Dick, look across their fields in northwest Missouri that are flooded by the Missouri River. This is the second flood in eight years for the family. While it creates financial and emotional strain, the three choose to remain optimistic and continue farming. They epitomize the resilience in agriculture.</p>

<p>There is a road here. However, when water topped the federal levee along the Missouri River last week, it cut off access. Farmers will have to wait until the water recedes to know if the road remains or the extent of the damage.</p>

<p>USDA Under Secretary Bill Northey did not let floodwaters stop him. Andy Spiegel, who co-owns the farm, took Northey, Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst and RMA representative Duane Vol on a tour of the farm via an amphibious ATV.</p>

<p>Farmers were caught off guard by the March flood along the Missouri River. Those who could get grain out, such as the Spiegel family, dealt with mud and muck. It took four-wheel-drive tractors and loaders to remove 20,000 bushels of soybeans at the Spiegel farm. Other farmers in the area were not as fortunate and grain remains in bins across the bottoms.</p>

<p>Farmers believe it will take longer to recover from this flood as the snowmelt and spring rains have just begun. “It just caught us off guard,” Andy Spiegel said. “It was so early this year. We were not ready for it or the magnitude of it.”</p>

<p>As the water rose quickly along the river, the Spiegel family worked fast to move farm equipment to a hill across the interstate. However, farmers in nearby towns of Craig, Mo., and Langdon, Mo., were not as fortunate. “They had to leave it behind,” Andy says, “just to get themselves and their families to safety.”</p>

<p>Looking across an empty interstate where traffic has been cut off from St. Joseph, Mo., to Omaha, Neb., there is nothing but water on the other side. In Atchison County alone, there were 14 federal levee breaks compromising 60,000 acres.</p>

<p>USDA Under Secretary Bill Northey (far right) listened to concerns from a group of Missouri farmers and ag business leaders gathered at the Spiegel farm in northwest Missouri. He talked of help from federal programs but warned that much of the funding comes from Congress. He added that they are aware of the devastation in the Heartland.</p>

<p>Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst (right) told USDA Under Secretary Bill Northey that while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is following the rule book for management of the Missouri River, the rules need to be looked at or changed. “This is the second flood in eight years,” Hurst said. “Something is not working. We need to figure it out. These events are devastating to our farmers.”</p>

<p>Andy Spiegel (front right) shares his concerns about the farm’s future with USDA Under Secretary Bill Northey (front left) and Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst (back left) and RMA representative Duane Vol (back right). His family has 1,700 acres under water. Those acres will be unprotected from water and crop insurance if the levees are not built back quickly.</p>

<p>At one time, these barns housed hogs. However, today they only are used to store equipment. Andy and Kyle Spiegel were kids during the 1993 and 1998 floods, but still remember hauling out hogs. “We’re glad not to have to deal with that this time,” Andy says. Still some of the machinery could not be moved as the family focused first on getting grain out of bins.</p>