Flood fallout poses challenges for West Tennessee soybean farmers

Flooding surrounds a house about a mile away from the Obion River in Ridgely, Tenn. on April 9, 2025 after 96 hours of torrential rain. (Photo: Cassandra Stephenson)

West Tennessee soybean farmers already on the heels of a tough year are now facing challenges posed by the remnants of early April floods.

Gina Ward’s low-lying fields near Rives and the Obion River flooded in February, requiring the third-generation farm to make costly repairs to the private levee attached to their land.

Just a few weeks later, the majority of the levee was once again washed away in a near-record-setting flood after rain drenched Northwest Tennessee and surrounding areas.

The 96-hour rain event was the second-highest for the Obion, Forked Deer and Loosahatchie Rivers, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 

When the water finally began to recede from Ward’s drowned fields about 10 days later, it left craters and debris. 

“It looks like the surface of the moon now,” she said.

Soybeans cover more acres than any other row crop in Tennessee, according to the University of Tennessee. The crop is most popular in the state’s west and central regions.

April typically marks the beginning of the planting season. Ward had not yet planted her fields when the storms began on April 3, but she wants to get seeds in the ground as soon as possible to maximize her yield. 

She has started planting in fields on higher ground. But the sandy moonscape left behind by the flood in lower-lying areas will take a lot of time and work before it’s ready to be planted again, Ward said.

Stefan Maupin, executive director of the Tennessee Soybean Production Council, said most of the flooded land was not planted. 

“The farmers who farm that low-lying ground know that it’s best to wait as long as possible to get outside of flooding season before they start planting that ground,” he said.

But the flooding has pushed back their planting dates, which could lead to lower yields.

“Conventional wisdom in any farming is to get your crop in early, and that’s going to be a little difficult to do on hundreds of thousands of acres in these flood plains, because the water is going to have to go down, and the fields will have to dry,” Maupin said.

Field maintenance could also prove expensive and time-consuming for farmers whose fields were left littered with debris, covered in sediment or rutted by receding flood water.

These delays and extra expenses compound the losses soybean farmers saw in 2024.

Soybean prices paid to Tennessee producers dropped 16% in 2024 compared to 2023, despite farmers planting around 15% more acreage, according to the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture. 

Like any other business, a farmer’s goal is to make a return on their investment, and planting requires significant capital up front, Maupin said. Profit margins are thin due to high interest rates and inflated costs for things like fuel, fertilizer, and pesticides. 

“Last year they had no profit in corn, wheat, soybeans and cotton, and they lost a lot of money,” he said. “This year, the prices and the input costs are not any better, so they needed to be able to reduce their costs as much as possible. For those who farm in these flooded areas, it is only going to drive up their costs to put a crop there.”