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Webbers Falls farmers face challenges from erosion and sand after flood

Posted at 4:40 PM, Jun 17, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-17 19:27:34-04

WEBBERS FALLS, Okla. — For the first time this week, Steve Conrad is seeing the damage to his wheat and corn fields.

They were underwater for ten days, and it was close to a month before the water receded.

"There's about 12 inches of sand, pure sand, down in the wheat. Sand will not grow anything. I don't know what we're going to do with it, we're going to have to get it off the land somehow or another but where do you put it, what do you do with it?" Conrad said.

Conrad is also battling large sinkholes, and tells 2 Works for You his plans of retirement are being set aside right now.

"I was shocked and sick. Cried. It was awful. To lose something like this, something you worked for all your life and then Mother Nature comes along and destroys it you think, what was God thinking? You know?" he said.

The farmer worries the erosion is causing a new channel that's bringing in water. Conrad said now the land may be unusable.

"It takes a lot to put a crop in. The corn that we lost in those other areas were about four feet tall. It cost about $300 an acre just in the cost to put that in there so we lost all that," he said.

Conrad expects consumers will see an impact too, saying nationwide flooding could affect produce costs everywhere.

"Now corn prices are way up here, we can get five dollars a bushel for corn right now. But we have no corn to sell. So what good is a good price if you don't have a crop to sell?" he said.

The farmer is hopeful to get new crops in the ground. He does have crop insurance, but is still looking for some government aid to get back on track.
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