Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Midwestern farmers may be socked with steep increases in their crop insurance premiums unless levees damaged by last summer's flooding are fixed.

The problem is there's not enough money for repairs, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is focusing on fixing those protecting homes and facilities like water treatment plants.

Land behind damaged levees can be two to three times higher to insure, adding tens of thousands of dollars to farmers' expenses.

Missouri farmer Ed Marshall says he recently paid $100,000 to insure about 2,700 acres of wheat he planted in the fall and hopes to harvest next spring. The amount is nearly five times what he paid a year ago.

He farms 8,000 acres behind the Birds Point levee that were flooded last summer by the Mississippi River.