Isaac crop damage set at $100 million
Hurricane Isaac damaged $100 million of Louisiana crops, less severe than agriculture officials feared and less than other storms in recent years, the LSU AgCenter said Monday.
The amount, based on surveys by county agents and crop specialists across the state, amounts to only 3 percent of the pre-storm value of the state’s agriculture.
“I think overall we are fortunate,” LSU AgCenter economist Kurt Guidry said in a news release. “Certainly we had some significant impacts in some areas, but the damage was not as severe as we feared.”
Yield losses for crops receiving the most damage included vegetables at 85 percent, citrus at 37 percent and pecans at 24 percent.
Combined, these represent about an $8 million loss.
The greatest economic loss, however, was sugarcane, with almost $60 million — 7 percent of its pre-storm value. This represents an 8 percent loss in yield.
The current sugarcane crop experienced wind damage, and farmers were still planting next year’s crop.
“This will result in either a change in planting methods — going from whole-stalk planting to billet planting — or a change in the planting ratio,” Guidry said. “Both of these changes require additional acres to be harvested for planting and, therefore, reduce the number of acres a producer would normally have to harvest for sugar.”
The reduction in acres lowers the overall revenue producers can expect, Guidry said.
Cotton will see a 9 percent reduction in yield, leading to an $11 million economic loss according to Guidry’s estimates.
About 11 percent of the state’s rice yield was affected by the storm, resulting in a $4 million loss.
Fewer soybean acres were damaged — about 5 percent — but that represents about a $14 million loss.
Sweet potatoes also experienced a 5 percent reduction in yield, or a loss of $1.6 million.
Louisiana agriculture was positioned to have a strong year, with near-record yields for several commodities.
Despite the damage, Guidry said, the state could still have a good year.
“The exact nature of the impact on many of these commodities continues to evolve and will continue to be determined based on weather conditions that persist following the storm,” he said. “A return to favorable weather would likely limit the impacts while continued rains would likely result in additional impacts.”
For many of these commodities, a final assessment of Isaac’s effects will not be possible until harvest is completed, Guidry added.