REDWOOD, Miss. — Farmers are experiencing water torture as they wait for the flooded Mississippi River to recede and give them a chance to salvage what’s left of what might have been the best season in memory.

The muddy Mississippi is at levels not seen in more than three decades, putting hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland under water. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says a total of 855,750 acres are under either Mississippi floodwater or backwater from the Yazoo River, which drains much of the board-flat Mississippi Delta into the Mississippi River. About 273,000 of those flooded acres are cleared for wheat, cotton, soybeans, corn, and other crops.

The flood hit just as farmers were preparing to harvest wheat and plant corn, soybeans and cotton. Some, like farmer Brad Bradway, were forced to watch as water crept inch by inch over his 110 acres of wheat until his fields sat under 8 feet of water.

Others are now stuck waiting for the water to recede and the ground to dry before they can plant, guaranteeing a shortened growing season, yield reductions and lower returns. This comes after a drought has left much of the region parched for several years.

The farmers believe there’s a simple solution to the flooding.

The Environmental Protection Agency is threatening to veto the Yazoo Backwater project that would pump excess water out of the Yazoo River wetlands during floods. Critics say the project will hurt the environment and threaten endangered species.

A corps spokesman says if the Yazoo project were in place, it would have pumped about 4 feet of water off currently flooded land.