With the floodwaters still rising in some parts of Louisiana late last week, a lot of farmers with crops still in the field, as well as some with harvested crops in storage, are facing a total loss, says AgriPulse.
“We’re trying to get the water out of our basins and into the Gulf of Mexico,” state Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain said. “We’re trying to operate our locks and dams in such a manner to expedite the water going out, but a lot of the backwater has not drained into the major systems yet so we’re having a slow retreat of the water. That’s a big thing.”
Ron Levy, a soybean agronomist at Louisiana State University, told AgriPulse that many soybean farmers will lose their entire crop. Soybeans are the state’s biggest crop. The current damage estimate for all Louisiana farmers is $14.3 million, but officials say they have not even been able to assess the full scope of the damage.
Even crops that were already harvested weren’t safe. “’Rice and soybeans that were in the process of drying were destroyed,’” Levy told AgriPulse.
So far, 13 deaths have been attributed to the floods, which Gov. John Bel Edwards called “unprecedented.”