WASHINGTON (AP) — Some residents in bayou country deep in southeastern Louisiana raise alligators or crawfish. Some grow turnips. Until a local government stepped in, Chad Jarreau farmed dirt.

To be more precise, he dug up dirt on his property in Cut Off, Louisiana, graded it again and again and sold it for use in construction projects.

Jarreau is not a wealthy man, but he had a batch of dirt on the edge of his 17-acre (7-hectare) property that was worth more than $150,000. Or it would have been, if the local flood control district hadn't taken it to shore up protection against hurricanes in t...