The unprecedented heavy rains of March have spilled over into unprecedented monetary losses for Louisiana's agricultural industry. Experts at the LSU AgCenter anticipate by the time all is said and done that some $15 million in damages and losses could be reported by state agricultural producers.

The crops that appears to have taken the biggest hit from the high water and flooding is the state's corn crop. As of late last week it was estimated that some 40-thousand acres of cropland had been underwater. Some of that land still remains too wet for producers to replant.

We could have as many as 50,000 to 55,000 acres of corn that could be forced to be replanted or were replanted because of the excessive rains.

Those are the comments of Kurt Guidry economist with the AgCenter as reported by the Louisiana Radio Network.

In his estimation Guidry believes that corn producers in the state are facing losses of $3 to $4 million. Farmers who wish to replant those damaged lands are looking at a cost of $150 per acre to reestablish crops.

We probably still had somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 to 5,000 acres of wheat that were negatively impacted from the excessive rains and flooding.

Guidry said that corn wasn't the only commodity affected. The wheat crop was hurt badly and much of Louisiana's strawberry crop was damaged too. Then there were the losses in the livestock industry.

Estimates of cattle deaths running into about 500 head. As large of an impact for the cattle industry was having to relocate those cattle, cattle that were in flooded situations had to be moved.

Just how much damage and how great the recovery will be will be based upon the weather forecast for the next several weeks across the state. It will also be based upon whether or not producers can secure extra funding to replace damaged crops.

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