Flooding has hit farmers from Minnesota down to the Gulf of Mexico hard, thanks to heavy rainfall in the Mississippi River and Missouri River watersheds.
A DTN report says flooding problems are spreading further south. Storms along the Arkansas River watershed have cost thousands of people their homes in both Oklahoma and Arkansas.
The Army Corps of Engineers is warning Arkansas farmers and state residents that flooding may last weeks or even months.
Arkansas farmer Robert Stobaugh spoke on an Arkansas Farm Bureau podcast recently, saying that he already has corn underwater, but he did stop planting right before the river waters rose.
Mike Schulte, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, tells DTN that the combination of rain, flooding, tornadoes, and hail have probably dented the winter wheat crop harvest by 20 percent.
That’s especially disappointing because Oklahoma had enjoyed perfect grain-fill weather, and a harvest forecast last month had come in at 119 million bushels of wheat.
Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson sent a federal disaster request to Washington, D.C., last week.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards says the president recently approved federal disaster aid for his state.
Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant says the flooding in his state is “historic,” noting that of the 544,000 acres of flooded land, 250,000 of those acres are farm ground.