Production Journal

Farm Journal, Sep 28, 2005 by Jeanne Bernick, Pam Henderson

Hurricane Havoc

The photos of Hurricane Katrina's devastation are both haunting and humbling. "It's as bad as what you've seen on television--and worse," says Mike Danna, Louisiana Farm Bureau spokesman.

Conservative estimates by the American Farm Bureau predict a $1- billion price tag on damage directly to crops and livestock. An additional $1 billion in indirect costs are expected as a result of the Gulf waterway shipping crisis and skyrocketing fuel prices.

Lack of communication to rural areas makes the extent of damage across Louisiana and Mississippi difficult to predict. One of the hardest hit industries is sugar; Louisiana is the largest producer of cane in the country. Thousands of acres of sugarcane ready for harvest was flattened from Katrina's 155-mph winds.

Kurt Guidry, Louisiana State University AgCenter economist, says high fuel costs will force growers to consider the marginal benefit of harvesting lodged cane. The U.S. is already facing a tight sugar supply and increasing allotments for imported sugar. The price of sugar from cane is likely to increase.

"Citrus losses totaling $10.8 million do not include future revenue losses," Guidry says. "At this time, we estimate 80% of the citrus acres will not be suitable for replanting because of contamination." Losses for horticulture growers are estimated at $19 million, and salt-water contamination of the soil threatens future revenues."

Southwest Louisiana produces 25% of all seafood in the U.S. Carolyn Falgout lost nearly 1,500 acres of oyster beds in Plaquemines Parish near Port Sulphur. Oysters require the correct balance of freshwater and saltwater and need as long as three years to reach maturity.

For crop producers, the crisis did not end with winds and rain. The immediate concern is fuel. "A cotton grower in the northeast part of the state [Louisiana] said he tried to get 5,000 gal. from his supplier and was told the best he could get was 1,500 gal.," Danna says. "He needs 200 gal. or more per day once cotton harvest starts to run his two cotton pickers and two cotton module builders."

Preliminary overall cotton crop loss estimates are fairly light-- ranging between 100,000 and 200,000 bales-- with no significant damage to gins and warehouses. Rice and corn have been harder hit-- only 30% of Mississippi's corn crop was harvested prior to the storm, and much of what is left is badly lodged.

Katrina blew down much of Paul Roberts' corn near Belzoni in central Mississippi. "The rabbits are eating the ears," he says. "I grow 850 acres of corn and harvested 390 acres before the hurricane hit."

To harvest the rest, he spent $450 on fuel for a trip to Texas, where he paid $6,900 to buy a combine header attachment designed to reel in flattened stalks. "It picks up the corn, but we have to go slower and that costs us in diesel and in labor."

Randolph Hearst farms with his son Randy near Benton, Miss., where they grow corn, cotton and soybeans. Corn was their worst-hit crop with most of it lying flat on the ground. "Three weeks before the hurricane, this was the most beautiful crop of corn we've ever grown," Hearst says. "Our cotton looks like it was defoliated by the winds," he adds. "The plants are twisted and hurt."

Kenny Rodgers of Belzoni, defoliated 100 acres of cotton six days before Hurricane Katrina. "That field normally yields 1,250 lb., but I only harvested 700 lb. per acre," he says. Defoliated cotton is ready for picking, with locks of fluffy lint barely hanging from dried boll segments called burs. At this critical stage, lint is vulnerable.

The sky is falling. Lack of power and fuel is a critical issue for poultry, says Mike Pepper, president of the Mississippi Poultry Association. He says 80% of the state's 9,000 poultry houses were damaged, and more than five million broilers perished. Broiler production is a $2-billion industry in Mississippi. The state produces 10% of the U.S. supply. "We're running on generators intended to operate for a couple of hours, not days or weeks," Pepper says. "Getting fuel for those generators has been a problem."

Earl Armstrong, a cattle producer in Venice, La.--the last town on Highway 23 at the mouth of the Mississippi River--was able to evacuate his family ahead of the storm but lost his entire herd of 2,500 cattle. "We estimate Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes lost 11,000 cattle," says Louisiana State University AgCenter cattle specialist Jason Rowntree.

Pastures were under at least 12' of water for weeks, making it hard for the remaining cattle to find forage and water. The Federal Milk Market Administrator's office in Atlanta estimates between 300 and 400 dairy farms were affected by the storm in three states. These herds produce about 1 million pounds of milk daily and most have fewer than 100 cows.

Loss of electricity meant weeks with no milk processing. Dairy producers in Louisiana's Florida parish dumped hundreds of thousands of gallons of milk. Dumping 100,000 lb. of milk equals losses of about $15,000 a week for producers.