Page 2 - Easement Program News Today

Farmers are dealing with more and heavier rainfall events throughout the Upper Midwest. Some farmers install drainage tiles and trenches to handle the water, but that can lead to soil erosion and flooding downstream.

A hotter atmosphere is causing rain to fall in harder bursts, pushing back planting seasons and drowning crops. At the same time as human-driven climate change is juicing precipitation, Corn Belt farming practices such as installing underground drainage tiles and leaving fields bare after harvest are changing how water moves across the landscape and into waterways.

Mar. 23— Iowa farmers received $243 million in insurance payments for flooded crops from 2001 to 2020, with $83 million of that going to farmers in five Iowa counties considered "hot spots" for flood crop insurance payments, according to an analysis by the Environmental Working Group. Flooding is a major issue in the Mississippi River basin, as Iowa's river...