Drought, not flood, is agriculture’s biggest concern

The drought and heat are turning out to be more of a problem for Louisiana farmers than flooding. Although it’s too early to estimate the effects on crop yields and livestock production, the LSU AgCenter predicts 2011 is definitely not going to be as good as 2010. “There’s still time for some of the later-planted crops such as soybeans, cotton and sugarcane,” says Kurt Guidry, LSU AgCenter economist. “They’re a little more drought-resistant than corn and grain sorghum.” Flooding from the Mississippi River was expected to be much worse than it turned out to be, though it has wrought devastation in some areas; some farmers lost as many as 1,000 acres of crops. Overall, the flooding affected about 40,000 to 50,000 acres along the Mississippi River and the Morganza Spillway. The drought alone might not be so much of a problem if it weren’t for the high, sustained heat, agriculture experts say. Production costs keep going up when farmers have to continually irrigate, and fuel costs continue to be high. Drought stress is evident on soybean plants across the state, says Ron Levy, soybean specialist at the LSU AgCenter Dean Lee Research Station in Alexandria. And rice farmers who pump surface water from canals onto their fields are finding too much salt in the water, caused by a lack of rain. Louisiana cattle production is being hurt by the continued drought and high heat as well. For the rest of 10/12 Corridor Weekly, click here.