Overall, at least 1.9 million acres of farmland in an eight-county area were affected by excessive rains since last weekend. Crop losses on those acres range from 20 percent to 100 percent, Monson said in an telephone interview.

Two of the hardest-hit counties, Norman and Kittson, were among the state's top producers of spring wheat and sugar beets in 1999 and 2000, according to the Minnesota Agricultural Statistics Service.

Farm experts have said it is probably too late in the season for affected producers to replant their fields. Most areas will need at least two weeks to dry out.

Livestock, however, can still be saved, and Monson said efforts were under way to move cattle in flooded areas to higher ground.

"That's immediate assistance we are providing, as of last night," he said, adding that cattle were being either herded or trucked to safer areas.

Feeding those animals may pose a challenge because many pastures were also flooded. Monson said one option might be to open unused farmland set aside by farmers under the USDA's Conservation Reserve Program, or CRP, for grazing.

"A lot of the alfalfa and forage was was lost to flooding. We may need to move (livestock) to the higher ground and ask for the ability to take the hay off of CRP land, or graze that land," Monson said.