Ad-Express and Daily Iowegian, Centerville, IA

Agriculture

July 24, 2012

Weather unfriendly with Appanoose County farmers

CENTERVILLE — Three out of the last five growing seasons for Appanoose County farmers have been difficult, to say the least.

Everybody remembers the flooding in 2008 and 2010 causing hardships. In 2008, 54.14 inches of rain fell and in 2010 66.45 inches of rain fell in this area, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers web site.

Now in 2012, it's the lack of rain.

One farmer who was at Rep. Dave Loebsack's visit to Dan Furlin Jr.'s farm west of Numa Saturday afternoon, July 21, said the last rain in this area was June 20.

Dan Clark, who farms east of Centerville, said farmers in Appanoose County are paying three times what farmers are paying in central Iowa for crop insurance because of the multiple disaster years.

Clark said in 1983, the corn crop went from looking wonderful to in seven days of 105 degrees and 20-30 mile per hour winds and it was white and gone.

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The Iowegian wants readers to think about the debate Rep. Larry Sheets talks about at the state capital centered on "accepting Medicaid expansion as defined by the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), or choosing to create an Iowa specific health care program. Those who prefer the Medicaid expansion believe the federal government will fulfill its commitments three years from now. Those opposing explain that the federal government is only capable of that by borrowing the money from the Chinese." So, the question this week is, "Should Iowa accept the federal government's Medicaid expansion or create a health care program specific to the state?"

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