Eastern Iowa Farmer Spring 2021

mother nature
John
Mueller
John Mueller,
lockmaster at
Bellevue’s Lock and
Dam No. 12, points
to equipment he and
other employees
there use to keep
track of conditions
for the National
Weather Service.
Eastern Iowa
Farmer photo /
Brooke Taylor
Bellevue
If the water’s “over the pan,” the
lock won’t operate, effectively shutting
down barge traffic, including shipments
of grain. Sixty percent of U.S. soybean
exports, and just a hair less of corn
exports, go down the Mississippi River
by barge.
Equally crucial to grain growers,
spring flooding can stall time-sensitive
fertilizer shipments, threatening the
year’s yields. In 2019, flooding and bad
weather slashed profits for ag giants
like Archer Daniels Midland Co. and
DowDuPont, as well as smaller fertilizer
companies and some producers.
The lock at Bellevue was shut down
three times in 2019, following shutdowns
in both 2017 and 2018. Following
the wettest 60 months on record,
2020 looked like more of the same.
“This spring, we had a 95 percent
chance of a record flood,” Mueller said.
“February came, and it was the perfect
conditions for the snow to melt slowly,
and we didn’t have a closure.”
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70 Eastern Iowa Farmer | Spring 2021 eifarmer.com