VIDALIA — Parish wheat farmers are having one of the best years they have seen in a long time, and that may all be for nothing.

The threat of the Mississippi River has Concordia Parish residents all over preparing to move out in case of a disaster, but farmers are doing their best to stick around and salvage what they can.

LSU AgCenter’s Concordia Parish County Agent Glen Daniels said this was the best year for wheat crops since he has been in the parish.

“We are looking at probably a record year,” he said. “We are off to a good start.”

Daniels said the parish had approximately 5,000 acres of wheat in 2010, and with the prices and yields higher, he knows there are more acres than that this year.

Daniels said in order to get the most out of the farming season, some wheat farmers in the parish are harvesting their crop early.

“Many farmers are out cutting it now,” he said. “I just pray they have time to get it out. They have good-looking crops at good looking prices. They can actually make money this year, let’s just hope nothing happens.”

Angelina Plantation General Manager Wendell Walker is working to harvest the plantations 1,800 acres of wheat and 1,850 acres of oats before a possible emergency and said so far the process has been going smoothly.

“We have finished the first 600 acres, and we were averaging 82 bushels an acre,” he said. “That is about 20 bushels more than normal.”

Walker also said that the price per bushel has been a big help.

“It has gotten as high as $8.50 per bushel which is a lot higher than a few years ago,” he said. “Back then, if you were getting $4 per bushel you were doing something right.”

Walker said while harvesting early has been good, it has also been a challenge because the wheat is more profitable the dryer it is.

“Some places don’t take it unless there is 15 percent moisture in it,” he said.

The longer you wait to harvest the dryer the crop gets, unless you have a wheat dryer, Walker said.

“We are fortunate enough to have one,” he said. “After you harvest it you throw it in the dryer to get some of the moisture off of it.”

Farms without this access will have to wait longer for their wheat to dry, and Walker said every second is valuable when faced with a possible disaster.

Walker said it was the combination of a dry winter and timely spring rains that led to the promising crop.

Walker said wheat isn’t the only crop the plantation is working to harvest early. They are also hoping to harvest their rice crops.

“We have sold some but we are also waiting on a higher price.”

The threat of the flood has the entire plantation working harder, Walker said.

“We are just hoping for the best, because if the levee breaks we would lose everything,” he said. “We are at the lowest part of the parish.”

Walker said he and his staff are going to continue to harvest as much as they can.

Daniels said parish cotton, milo and corn crops are also having great starts to the planting season and could be tremendously affected by the high water levels.

“I just hope that (the levee) holds,” he said. “Most of our crops are at a record price and to have this suddenly happen would be devastating.”