The flooding in southern Missouri is on the minds of those presenting the Missouri State Fair.
Fair Director Mark Wolfe says there will be some people who would like to be at the Fair whose plans will be altered by high water.
“I understand there are some roads down in central, south-central Missouri and down into the eastern part of the state … we’ll be thinking about those folks. Hopefully they’ll find a way out of there and make it to the Fair. Hopefully when the Fair’s over that water will have receded and life can get back to normal.”
Missouri Director of Agriculture Doctor Jon Hagler says some of the areas that are flooded now also received steady precipitation in the spring.
“Crops were looking good, pastures were looking good and green which is a rarity for July and August … for the cattle folks, a lot of those guys were just trying to get back up on their feet and they’ve had a lot of cattle stranded on one side of the farm, a lot of fences taken out, a lot of gates taken out and crossings, etcetera.”
Hagler notes that the lack of a permanent Federal Farm Bill means disasters such as this flood raise concerns about whether farmers will have any kind of disaster assistance, particularly livestock farmers.