By MARGERY A. BECK
Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Historic flooding has left parts of the Mississippi River closed for business.

The river is a main conduit of shipping everything from agriculture products and construction material to petroleum and coal. Flooding also has affected shipping on the Missouri River and other waterways that feed into the Mississippi.

The shipping woes come at a time when farmers would normally be sending soybeans, corn and other grain from more than a dozen states in the Mississippi River basin down the river. And fertilizer shipments that normally travels up the river to communities from St. Louis to St. Paul, Minnesota, still haven't made it through.

The interruption is hitting an agriculture industry that's already suffering, including from trade disputes that have helped drive down commodity prices.

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