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U.S. rice crop suffering from flooding

With flooding in Arkansas, Louisiana and the Missouri Bootheel, it is likely 40-percent of the national rice crop won’t be planted this year, according to Arkansas Farm Bureau officials.

Rice production in Arkansas has taken a hit from recent flooding with an estimated 300-thousand acre loss this year, resulting in a loss of $300Million in rice production. Arkansas is the largest rice-producing state in the nation, making up about half of the U.S. rice crop each year.

The Arkansas Farm Bureau says more than a million total acres of cropland are under water in that state and the damage to crops and forage is expected to exceed $500-Million. Winter wheat and cotton crops are also suffering.

AFB President Randy Veach, a cotton, rice and soybean farmer in Arkansas’ Mississippi County, says they’ve never seen flood levels this high before. He says there IS hope for soybeans, which could still be planted, but would be at risk of late planting complications.

They did get some rice in the ground in Arkansas prior to the flooding, but there are risks to the health of any of the crop that may survive.