Flooding of US Plains helps boost farmers' income

Chicago

FARMERS are reaping higher yields and ranchers' feed costs have fallen sharply since flooding swept across the southern US Plains in May, with the record rains providing tangible benefits to agriculture despite causing damage that will likely cost billions of dollars to repair.

The storms inundated fields across Texas and Oklahoma but they broke a years-long drought that wreaked havoc on the profitability of growers and cattlemen.