KIBLER, Ark. (AP) — In a year when severe drought scorched the Southwest, a hurricane drowned crops in the East and river flooding swamped farms in the Midwest, the worst place to be a farmer may be just west of the Mississippi River.
Arkansas and Louisiana have experienced both drought and flooding. And in some cases, so have individual farmers in those states.
Jerry Gill estimates he lost $100,000. Flooding submerged 150 acres where he usually plants corn and soybeans about 150 miles northwest of Little Rock. Then the drought dried up the pastures that his cattle graze, and he had to run a hose from his house so the skinny animals would have enough to drink.
The cost of the bad weather could reach more than $1 billion in the two states.
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