Farmers in West Carroll Parish watching the bayous continue to rise and flood their fields.

The flooding in West Carroll Parish continues to get worse instead of better according to LSU AgCenter Extension Agent, Bruce Garner. Bayou Macon and Bayou Boeuf in northeast Louisiana continue to rise and spill over into the farm fields and pasture land.  “There are lakes where there used to be dry land,” says Garner. “We’re estimating 800 acres of corn had been planted and it’s been under water now for 4 or 5 days. It’s likely that will be a total loss since corn seed can’t survive much longer than 48 hours without oxygen.”

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Producers are looking at a loss of nearly $200 or more per acre of planted corn, according to farmer Ty Rogers of West Carroll Parish. This accounts for the cost of seed and fertilizer according to the third generation farmer. He has about 500 acres of corn submerged.

“It’s not good when you look at your fields and all you see is water,” said Rogers. “I’ve never seen it this high. Not even in 1991.” Rogers’ farm is near Bayou Boeuf. He says the bayou rose another four inches overnight(Tuesday).

Dan Fromme, LSU AgCenter corn specialist, said corn farmers had planted roughly 30,000 acres in an eight-parish area of north Louisiana, or about 8 percent of the state’s total corn acreage in 2014.

If there is no more significant rainfall farmers can still get their row crops in the ground according to Garner. He says the window for corn planting ends around April 10. Rogers says he will replant his waterlogged crop.

City forging ahead with flood cleanup

“We’re plowing new ground, no pun intended, moving forward,” said Garner. “We’ve never experienced this type of flooding. We will see what the next step is for producers whenever we dry out, whenever that might be.”