Midwest Storm Hits Ag Industry Hard

You've heard throughout the week about storms dumping inches, and in some cases feet of snow and bringing in cold temperatures across the Midwest.  It's not only bad for travel across the country, but it's also hurting the heartland's Ag industry.

"Significant stress on livestock," said USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey.  "We saw winds of 40 to 50 mph or higher accompanying this snow, so a very wind driven, wet, snow that uh really plastered exposed livestock and created a great deal of stress."

Rippey noted the weather is not only creating problems with livestock itself, but also, "getting feed back into some of the livestock areas, rural travel remains difficult."

The good news is that Mother Nature is giving the Midwest a break Thursday with calm weather.  But there are additional systems that could bring more rain and more snow to areas still trying to dig out.  That's not good news for livestock producers, corn and soybean harvest as well as winter wheat plantings.

If you have a story idea for the Washington Ag Network, call (509) 547-1618, or e-mail gvaagen@cherrycreekradio.com