Crops Hurting From Too Much Rain

"It's a disease caused by the high humidity and high temperature. And this damage is incurring some pretty hefty penalties when they deliver to the mill," says Brent Griffin.

Griffin is an extension agent in Prairie County. Farmers there are just now getting a chance to get their soybean crop in from the fields.

Rains over the last several weeks have not only delayed the harvest, it's caused damage to the crops themselves.

Griffin says, "I'm hearing horror stories from Louisiana all the way up into the boot heel of Missouri about just crop delays, crop going underwater, crop not maturing due to the lack of heat."

"We're having some moldy beans, beans sprouting in the husks stuff like that. But these fellows that I'm talking about, the water is over the crop. You don't get to cut that. You lose that," Ronnie Sabbitini says he feels lucky compared to the farmers closer to the White River.

He will likely loose only a few dollars an acre because of the mold. They will likely lose thousands of dollars in crops.

Sabbitini says, "Des Arc, Griffinville area, in that river basin, they're having it tough. The water is coming up and it's taking crops. They're cutting beans. You know, they're just trying to get them out, what they can salvage."

In Prairie County alone, high water is expected to ruin 15 thousand acres of soybeans and 5 thousand acres of rice.
And that will eventually translate to your pocketbook.
Fewer crops could drive up prices.

Brent Griffin admits, "It's like anything. When you do have damage, you have shortages, prices increase. And it will eventually get to the retailer."

And this is not just a problem for Arkansas; farmers in Louisiana and Mississippi are reporting surprisingly low yields on their corn crops.

But because of the disaster declaration we told you about just a couple minutes ago, help may be on the way for Arkansas farmers.

Those in Columbia, Lafayette and Nevada Counties can apply for a share of $100,000 in relief from the governor's disaster fund.

Low interest federal loans from the department of agriculture may also help farmers who suffered significant crop losses.