The agricultural fallout from recent severe weather and flooding may not be as first estimated, local experts say.

Crop fields in central Iowa received around four to five more inches than average for May.

As a result of the higher-than-normal rainfall, an estimated 5 percent of Iowa’s crops will need to be replanted, according to a report released by the Iowa Agriculture Statistical Service.

However, Robert Wisner, university professor of economics, said the Statistical Service’s estimate of 5 percent may be a little high.

“We don’t yet know the full extent of the damage,” he said.

The most affected area of the state was the northern part of Iowa, where some areas will require 10 to 20 percent of crops to be replanted, said Palle Pedersen, assistant professor of agronomy.

“When the ground became too saturated from the rain coming so fast and so hard, the ground was not able to absorb the water,” Pedersen said.

The rain resulted from a strong high pressure system centered over Bermuda, said Elwynn Taylor, professor of agronomy.

The system, which was stronger than usual this year, pushed more of its air into the area, causing rainfall and storms to roll over the Midwest.

Most of the crops that were affected by the heavy rainfall have dried out and are no longer underwater, Wisner said, but some of the crops were underwater for too long and died from saturation.

Recent weather has taken its toll on Iowa agriculture, with crops also sustaining damage by hail and strong winds from severe storms throughout May.

“Some fields in Iowa are devastated, but not all over the nation,” Taylor said. “The nation has never lost more than 3 percent [of its crop] due to hail.”

The recent rainfall has also created a situation that could prove dangerous in the future, Wisner said.

Crops that survived the flooding now have an increased vulnerability to diseases after having been immersed in water for such long periods of time.

This damage to the crops also brought prices 10 to 15 cents higher in the grain markets, he said.

“We have this year a very low world grain stock. They could reach bare minimum a year from now if we don’t have good yields,” Wisner said.

Pedersen said he predicted yields could be a problem this fall because crops, when replanted, tend to have lower yields than if they had only been planted once.

More yield problems could occur, Taylor said, if Iowa were to receive in excess of five inches of rainfall in any one of the coming months.

But fair weather will likely help repair the damage done to Iowa’s crops, Pedersen said.

“We need heat right now and we can recover from three to four weeks of cold and damp conditions,” Pedersen said.

When a crop has been destroyed or harmed by strong winds, hail or floods, a producer is faced with a number of choices as to how to minimize the damage and loss, according to the ISU Extension Web site, www.extension.iastate.edu.

One can leave the affected crop as it is and possibly claim insurance payments depending on the yield of the crop, replant the same crop, plant a different insurable crop or choose to disregard the acres and plant a cover crop only.