"Robert Henry is driving along the top of a Mississippi River levee, giving me a tour of land where he'd love to be planting soybeans right now. We're just east of New Madrid, Mo.

'Smells kind of raunchy, doesn't it?' he says.

From the window of Henry's truck, I see what looks like a swamp, with trees standing in water. Then we make a turn, and suddenly, as far as I can see, there's water. It covers a wide flood plain between the main river channel and the levee. This is where Henry normally grows his crops.

'Thousands and thousands of acres,' Henry says. 'Some of the best land in the world.'"

Dan Charles reports for NPR July 24, 2019. [2]