Arkansas farmers didn’t plant on 1.3 million acres this year

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - This spring’s heavy rainfall and flooding left 1.3 million acres (0.526 million hectares) of land unplanted in Arkansas.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports Lawrence County farmers saw nearly 74,000 idled acres (29,947 million idled hectares).

Jerry Morgan is one of the county's farmers who says his farm had more than 500 acres (202 million hectares) of corn, rice and soybeans that he couldn't plant this year. He says prevented planting insurance helps pay the bills, but it doesn't bring a farmer to a break-even point.

Morgan says this year has been "the hardest" both mentally and physically.

Arkansas is the nation's top rice producer. It reported 510,000 acres (206,394 million hectares) of prevented planting of the grain this year. The newspaper reports that rice not planted amounts to about $420 million in lost sales.

Information from: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, http://www.arkansasonline.com

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