The former Iowa Secretary of Agriculture says he was in disbelief when he surveyed flood damage in southwest Iowa and northwest Missouri.

Bill Northey — now an Undersecretary in the U-S-D-A — says the federal government can’t cover all the losses, but he adds,  there are U-S-D-A programs to soften the blow — like the Emergency Conservation Program. It will pay for three-quarters of the cost of repairing fences and moving sand and silt off fields.

Northey also cites the federal crop insurance program’s coverage of prevented planting acres that could help farmers recoup a portion of lost revenue. The  U-S-D-A does have a program that pays farmers for livestock lost during a natural disaster.