A USDA undersecretary has toured flooded farmland in northwest Missouri and southwest Iowa, including a stop in extreme northwest Missouri to speak with farmers.
Undersecretary Bill Northey says flooding is always devastating but admits he wasn’t prepared for what awaited him.
Northey calls the flooding in northwest Missouri and southwest Iowa devastating and worries that a wrecked levee system leaves the area vulnerable to future flooding this year.
Northey, the former Iowa Agriculture Director, understands farm fields are unprotected even as farmers wait for floodwaters to recede.
Northey says he will have two messages for Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. One, that farmers need help to recover now and, two, that changes need to be made in the management of the Missouri River to prevent a recurrence.
