News

Southern Illinois farmers fighting floods

A far southern Illinois farmer says torrential rains have rivers on the rise and planters parked.

“We’ve had 10 1/2 inches of rain drop on us and there’s places with 10 to 15 feet of water on it.”

Granvil Travis raises row crops in Massac County. 

“I haven’t heard of any corn being planted, but there’s a handful of guys that planted 100 acres of beans or so, and some of them looked pretty good right before that flood hit, and now they’re underwater.”  He says, “You always like to plant some early. But I think right now it’s a good thing to have your seeds still in the bag.”

He tells Brownfield it’ll be at least a month before some of his ground will be ready to plant.

“I’m not really too concerned right now with the weather.”  He says, “We’re still here in the 1st of April and if we can still plant a little bit right there around the end of April and first of May, then I’m not getting nervous.  If it was June 1st before it dried out, that’d be a different story.”

Travis says river levels in his area are expected to crest later this week, and he’s thankful forecasts are relatively dry for the next few weeks.

AUDIO: Granvil Travis – southern Illinois farmer

File photo