Torrential rain that caused flooding in August and other poor weather conditions in 2016 resulted in a considerable decline in the state’s sweet potato harvest, as Louisiana farmers yielded 35% fewer bushels last year than in 2015, according to the LSU AgCenter.
At a recent meeting of the Louisiana Sweet Potato Association, LSU AgCenter Extension Associate Myrl Sistrunk said farmers harvested an average of 290 bushels of sweet potatoes per acre in 2016, down from 450 bushels per acre the year before.
“We were set up to have an excellent crop as far as yield all over the state,” Sistrunk says in a prepared statement. “It was shaping up to be good until the rains impacted us.”
Not only did poor weather conditions delayed planting—with many farmers unable to finish until July—but some farmers also struggled to find labor to plant and harvest their crop, the LSU AgCenter says. Soon they will face stricter U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations on how they train workers who handle farm chemicals.
Louisiana farmers planted 9,296 acres of sweet potatoes in 2016, only a slight decrease from 2015’s 9,309 acres. The LSU AgCenter has more details.
