Agriculture losses from the March and August floods totaled almost $367 million, according to an analysis by the LSU AgCenter, threatening the future of some of Louisiana's farmers. "It could be a knockout punch to a lot of people," said Caddo Parish rancher Marty Wooldridge, who had 2,000 acres of pastures flooded in March and again in May. "What's even worse is cattle prices are half what they were last year, and I think it's a similar story for other commodities." Acadiana farmer Richard Fontenot agreed. "Unfortunately, it's going to put some producers in dire straits," said Fontenot, who farms rice and soybeans in Ville Platte. Some of Fontenot's fields were submerged for a week in August. "It's a serious situation that's going to grow worse if we can't get some help." Fifth District Congressman Ralph Abraham said he plans to use the LSU AgCenter estimates to justify adding $400 million in agriculture specific aid to a $2.8 billion relief package the delegation and Gov. John Bel Edwards are seeking to push through Congress this week. Abraham, R-Alto, sits on the House Agriculture Committee. "We want to do it in one swipe if possible, but if that falls through I'm going to file a separate bill for the agriculture damage," Abraham said. "It's worse than we expected and the losses in agriculture will continue to rise. "When you see flooding in residential areas like Baton Rouge it's easy to see the devastation with carpet and drywall lining the streets. But we don't have that same optic with agriculture, even though it's just as devastating." Edwards and Louisiana Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain are returning to Washington Wednesday to lobby lawmakers for help. "We're going  to try to get (ag relief) rolled into the package and ride it through together," Strain said. "The losses are so great a lot of our land could go fallow if we don't get some help." Most of the damage, $277 million, occurred during the August flood in southern Louisiana, when crops were ready to harvest and most vulnerable, but northern Louisiana producers lost about $90 million during the March flood. "In the Delta the spring floods caused quite a bit of replanting corn, which was expensive, and then pushed planting dates back," said Richland Parish farmer Dustin Morris, who is also Abraham's son-in-law. "That in tern affects yields. I would think we will generally see a 10 to 20 percent yield reduction (in northeastern Louisiana) across all crops." Soybeans and rice took the biggest hits in the August flood at $69 million each in losses, followed by corn at $44 million and cotton at $27 million. "I think we'll see losses of $350 to $400 per acre in (Acadiana) in quality and yield," Fontenot said. But there were significant losses in virtually every crop, as well as livestock. "We probably dealt with 10,000 head of cattle throughout the state that had to be relocated and thousands that were lost," said Wooldridge, who spearheaded the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation's Hay Clearinghouse Program to deliver hay where needed. "We have distributed and placed about 5,000 square and round bales combined for both disasters." Other loss estimates from the LSU AgCenter from the August flood include: grain sorghum, $2.4 million; sweet potatoes, $6.6 million; sugarcane, $2.7 million; livestock, $4.3 million; hay, $8.2 million; fruits and vegetables, $3.4 million; ornamental horticulture, $1.4 million; and honey, $479,000. Return to USA Today Network of Louisiana throughout the day for updates on this story. Source - http://www.thenewsstar.com