With their children grown and the economy making it increasingly difficult to make their farm profitable, a family in Scott will become the latest in Louisiana to fold the farm.
As The Daily Advertiser reports, Gotreaux Family Farms will close by the end of this week after 17 years in business as owners Brian and Dawn Gotreaux pursue opportunities in real estate.
“We had a heart-to-heart with our children about the farm,” says Brian Gotreaux of his 10 adopted children, who are 16 to 21 years old. “We asked if any of them felt strongly about keeping the farm and taking it over. And even though they all liked working on the farm and are who they are because of the farm, they also want to move on and do their own things.”
The Gotreauxs started farming as a way to eat more nutritionally but expanded their operation as friends and strangers wanted to purchase food from their farm. At their peak, they sold 147 varieties of produce, honey, eggs, tilapia, chicken, turkey, lamb, goat and beef.
After phasing out their dairy cows, beef cows, goats and chickens, they began working in real estate to supplement their income. After the farm folds, they hope to use new income through real estate sales and investments to start a local adoption organization.
With the shutdown of their business, the Gotreauxs leave behind a void in the local food movement, and they join a number of south Louisiana farmers that have seriously scaled back or stopped selling local food altogether in recent years.
“It’s almost like the whole movement—the farm-to-table, local food movement—has just settled,” Gotreaux says.
Zack McMath, president of the Acadiana Food Hub, worries that south Louisiana is mirroring the national trend of the younger generation abandoning farming as an occupation.
“It’s a step backward,” he says. “We’re trying to create more farmers and more sustainable farming in our community. Losing farmers is the last thing we want to do.”
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