CHASE - Louisiana sweet potato growers are experiencing a tough harvest period following record rains that hit the state in August.

Myrl Sistrunk, LSU AgCenter extension associate in Chase, an unincorporated community in Franklin Parish, said in a news release many growers in north Louisiana took a double hit from wet weather, first in March and again in August.

Sistrunk says the wet weather in the spring had a negative impact on the planting, and the August and early September rains are causing losses during harvest.

He says growers planted more than 9,200 acres of sweet potatoes, down from about 20,000 acres a few years ago.

About 50 percent of Louisiana's crop has been harvested, and Sistrunk hopes harvest is complete by late November.