Across the South and lower Midwest, floodwaters have covered about 3 million acres of farmland, eroding for many farmers what could have been a profitable year for corn, wheat, rice and cotton, officials said Thursday.

In Arkansas, the Farm Bureau estimated that damage to the state's agriculture could top more than $500 million as more than 1 million acres of cropland are under water.

"It's in about 10 feet of water," Dyersburg, Tennessee, farmer Jimmy Moody said of his 440 acres of winter wheat, which was to be harvested in the coming month.

Other farmers in Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Arkansas rushed to salvage what wheat they could ahead of the rising water. As for corn, farmers who were able to get into the fields during a soggy planting season in late March and April are seeing their crops in some cases under several feet of water.

Read - Millions of acres of farmland flooded; Louisiana braces for onslaught

5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors, and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe.

Writer Ernestine Ulmer is popularly attributed to the phrase: "Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first."

We're no Family Radio, but we'll agree with the first part - especially after recent injuries sustained by one of our own. The second part, however, we've got our qualms with. We love banana cream pie as much as the next person, but there's also something a little bit unsettling about the notion of an éclair before the escargot.

We're more in the same camp of thought as Sally Camacho, the pastry chef at WP24 in Los Angeles, California. She's certainly not advocating eating your sweets first - but she's certainly not advocating skipping them either.

Five Reasons to Eat Dessert Every Day: Sally Camacho
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Ashley Strickland is an associate producer at CNN.com. In her previous job as a traveling sports photographer, she picked up plenty of souvenir recipes that she'll be sharing over the next few months in her new Fare Play column.

Eating isn’t always on my mind, especially when I'm focusing on the task at hand. When I was working as a sports photographer over the last two years, this happened six days out of every seven. The phrase "starving artist" definitely hit home, but every once in a while during my travels, food was what drove me.

in February 2010, my adventures took me from my college town of Athens, Georgia across the state to Elberton (“Granite Capital of the World”) to pursue a community journalism project. I was hot on the trail of a tip that might turn an assignment into a sports shoot; the Brock University rowing teams had driven 15 hours down from St. Catharines, Ontario to participate in a one-week training camp on Lake Russell.  I didn’t know them, they didn’t know me and they had no idea I was about to show up.

I knew the first time head coach Peter Somerwil cracked open his cabin door and I smelled an heavenly aroma drifting from the oven, he had to be cooking comfort food.  I needed to know more so I could make it for myself later.  He shrugged in reply and said he was making a peach upside-down cake. Oh, Lordy.

It became a quest, not only for sports photography, but a fabulous recipe as well. 
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Sink your teeth into today's top stories from around the globe.

• How the Cowardly Lion transitioned into a Lay's potato chip icon. - New Yorker

• After 200-plus episodes, Alton Brown bids adieu to "Good Eats." - Serious Eats

• Lady bawls over new In-N-Out burger outpost. That's one special sauce. - Consumerist

• Prison meal or school lunch? You be the judge. - GOOD

• In today's fun listicle news, roles you can imagine auditioning for at Whole Foods. –McSweeney's

In response to yesterday's feature Glue the wound, skip the stitches, a few cringe-inducing anecdotes from chefs, culled from the comments.

As 30-year kitchen veteran, The People's Chef wrote, quoting Jesse Ventura, "It's not a macho thing at all...I ain't got time to bleed."

A round of shots for the kitchen, please!

When you're in the weeds, you have no time to get stitches. You're already pissed at yourself for getting cut, so you just want to get back on the line and keep cooking. My old chef used to joke (i hope he was joking) that whenever he cut himself, he'd just sear the wound on the flattop, cauterizing, and go back to work. Sure, a lot of it is about machismo, but really it comes from not wanting to let the customers, or more importantly, the other kitchen staff down. If I'm gone to get stitches, they're screwed. - Gastrodude

Currently a line cook at a popular neighborhood bistro in Chicago...I can say I will have no hesitation to cauterize a cut with a non-stick or a knife held over the flame. Compared to oil or sugar burns, contact burns don't hurt at all. - Glenn

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The United Nations said Wednesday that about 1.3 billion tons of food is lost or wasted every year, which amounts to roughly one third of all the food produced for human consumption.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization commissioned a report on food loss and waste as rising prices and diminished production worldwide have contributed to an increase in food insecurity.

"The issue of food losses is of high importance in the efforts to combat hunger, raise income and improve food security in the world's poorest countries," the report states. "Food losses have an impact on food security for poor people, on food quality and safety, on economic development and on the environment."

Read the rest of "World wastes 1 billion tons of food a year" on CNN Money.

While you're frying up some eggs and bacon, we're cooking up something else: a way to celebrate today's food holiday.

If you're craving a creamy crunch, go nuts - May 12 is National Nutty Fudge Day.

You can dash into your nearest sweet shop and grab some lovely fudge to go or make your own.  Even if your previous attempts have set up like concrete and left your spoon standing straight up in the bowl, never fear!  Cooks Illustrated is here with miraculous 15-minute fudge.

Still suspicious?  I've made it myself (once sneaking into the kitchen late at night to cure a chocolate craving). You can make a pan to enjoy during a movie marathon or double the recipe and share it with your co-workers.  Everyone will be impressed.

Making this fudge won't drive you nutty, but the easy recipe will sure make you smile.

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