Yehyun Kim (University of Missouri)
After the Rain
Award of Excellence
Domestic Picture Story
In his 64 years of life, Stephen Diederich hasn’t seen his farm this wet for this long. Flooding along the Missouri River has lasted since March and is expected to continue through the winter. People who used to live near his land moved out as the river kept flooding. “I’m so tired of mud after the flooding,” Stephen said. Other circumstances add to his challenge as a farmer. The trade war with China challenges exporting his products. He lives apart from his wife because she doesn’t want to live on the isolated farm, and sees her only twice a month. In between his efforts to revive his flooded farm along with his brother, Robert, he checks on his mom with dementia and feeds her over an hour for each meal. Seeing his children unwilling to take over his land as farmers, Stephen worries about what will happen to his land when he can’t farm anymore. “It concerns me a lot because we built this operation from nothing,” Stephen said. “I hate to see it die after one generation, but it may.”
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Stephen Diederich looks at a fallen tree after flooding on his farmland in Wilton, Missouri on Nov. 2, 2019. High levels of water from the worst flooding since 1993 broke nearby levees. Water and sand that came with flooding swamped many trees on his land. Cornstalks on the land still remain because Stephen was too busy with other tasks to recover from flooding.
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Stephen, left, and his brother Robert try to tie a rope to a tree that fell during the flooding. “I’m so tired of mud after the flooding,” Stephen said. The humidity of the earth has prevented Stephen from preparing the land to raise soybeans, wheat and corn next year.
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Stephen and Robert clear away fallen trees as a result of the flooding. “We’ve worked together since we were kids,” Stephen said. At 32, Stephen bought the current land with Robert. “Everybody around here expected us to go broke,” Stephen said.
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“I knew it was a tough business from a little boy on just seeing how hard the other farmers work,” Stephen said. “But I always have really enjoyed hard manual labor.”
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Stephen wipes apple sauce from his mom Carol. It usually takes more than an hour to feed her one meal. He has been living with his mom with dementia at her house since 2007. At first, he moved to keep her company after his dad passed away. But then her dementia started to surface in 2011. “You couldn't trust her anymore to cook because she would turn the burners on high and then just walk away. She would burn the house down,” Stephen said.
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“Let's wait until we get the apple sauce done, mom,” Stephen said as his mom, Carol Diederich, 92, reached out for pizza during her dinner time. Although Carol couldn't understand or answer him, Stephen continued to talk to her.
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Robert sits during the funeral visitation of his mom. “Even when we were at the funeral home setting things up and we were figuring out the time, my mind kept saying, 'Well I can't do that. I gotta be there and take care of mom,’" Stephen said. "My whole life revolved around her here. So, there's a big hole now."
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Stephen sits alone in the evening. His mom passed away on Nov. 15, 2019. “My whole life revolved around her here,” Stephen said. “So, there's a big hole now. I must either walk over to the living room to look into the chair or walk back to her room a dozen times every day without even thinking.”