Northeast Iowa dairy farmers seek storm help from Culver

Farmers in Fayette and Winneshiek counties whose crops were decimated July 24 asked Gov. Chet Culver on Tuesday why Hardin County residents got a state disaster declaration within hours and dairy farmers are still waiting.

The storm, which also hit parts of Clayton and Buchanan counties with hail and straight line winds, damaged about 350,000 acres of corn, soybeans and alfalfa, said Fayette County Extension Director Dan Burkhart.

Dairy farmers are wondering how they will be able to buy forage to feed their cattle.

Culver said Tuesday at the Scott Cannon farm that Hardin County was quickly declared a disaster area because personal property damage in Eldora met the necessary threshold. Agriculture-related damage, he said, falls under a federal designation and, “The only thing we can do is ask the feds for the disaster declaration.”

To which Cannon responded, “I consider my 320 acres of corn lost personal.”

Dr. Ken Weston, a Postville area veterinarian, said the disaster is compounding the problem of depressed milk prices. “I have clients losing $40,000 to $80,000 a month - a person's net worth drops by $1 million pretty quickly,” Weston said. “ ... There's an urgency here we're not sure you people in politics know.”

Culver asked dairy farmer Mark Vagts what he needs.

“We need to make a profit,” Vagts said. “We need $20 per hundredweight milk.”

For more than a year, Midwest farmers have been getting $10 per hundredweight. That's about 64 cents paid to farmers for each $2.94 gallon of milk consumers buy.

Culver promised: “We'll try to get you some relief.”