Farm revenue hit hard by hurricane, too

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN JOHN SCHLAGECK
It will be months before this country learns the full-scale impact Hurricane Katrina has had on Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida farmers and ranchers.

It will also be months, maybe years, before rural life returns to normal.

Some of the immediate losses are known and changing by the hour as producers struggle to pull their lives and operations back together. One thing is somewhat certain: all three states were hit hard and Louisiana maybe the hardest.

Lost farm revenue in this state is expected to exceed $1 billion. Louisiana’s citrus, beef cattle, nursery, sugarcane and dairy operations were literally blown and washed away when the storm made landfall Aug. 29.

Dairy producers in the state’s Florida Parish dumped thousands of gallons of milk that couldn’t be processed due to power failures and loss of transportation, Louisiana Farm Bureau spokesperson told American Farm Bureau Federation conference call listeners from across the country on Sept. 12.

To make matters worse, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is said to have commandeered diesel fuel and used it for rescue purposes-fuel that was to be used to harvest crops.

Ag specialists believe dairy farmer losses have already topped $21 million. This includes animal health costs, forage losses and loss of future milk production.

“Cattle are gone, there’s nobody in this parish where the bulk of the dairies are located,” said Mike Danna, Louisiana Farm Bureau. “There is nothing to go back to around New Orleans. I don’t know if the dairies will survive.”

People are working around the clock to assess damage and provide farmers the help they desperately need right now.

Most farmers need diesel fuel and other daily necessities so vital to their operations. They are working now to provide feed and fresh water to the surviving animals and working out a plan to handle the lost animals.

Officials believe cattle losses could top 10,000 head.

The storm also decimated pine and hardwood forests in the Florida Parish. These losses could total $700 million.

In the neighboring state of Mississippi, the biggest loss was forestry. Thirty-eight counties have sustained some damage at an estimated loss of more than $2 billion.

“Timber is down flat,” said Greg Gibson, Mississippi Farm Bureau. “The bottom six tier counties were destroyed.”

Early data indicates that about 65 percent of the affected timberlands are private, non-industrial-owned timber.

Of the row crops in the Mississippi Delta the rice crop was hit the worst. The affected crops are lodged to some degree or flattened. Farmers planted 245,000 acres.

“Because combines harvesting this downed rice crop have to run at one-half the normal speed, producers are having to use two to three times the fuel,” Gibson said.

“Farmers are paying twice the amount for diesel that they paid last year. With the difficulty in harvesting the downed crop, our farmers are leaving 20 percent of the crop on the ground.”

Poultry is big business in Mississippi and this industry suffered huge economic losses. There are about 9,000 poultry houses in Mississippi and more than 2,000 poultry farmers. A poultry house typically contains 20,000 to 25,000 birds.

“Our early estimates indicate that 2,400 poultry houses sustained damage, and of the damaged house, approximately 300 are totally devastated,” Gibson said. “A lot of this damage came from the tornadoes.

“Our value lost due to this storm is enormous when you factor in loss of production, loss of property, increased expenses associated with inflated energy costs, clean-up and income lost during recovery.”

Gibson reported that corn yield losses will be substantial with harvest conditions extremely difficult and expensive for a crop in which margins are extremely thin.

Cotton was hit with high winds that left the crop gnarled, mangled and in some cases flattened. Mississippi farmers planted 1.2 million acres this year and heavy losses are certain.

Soybeans escaped with very little damage.

“The biggest problem our farmers are facing is finding fuel and then paying the prices charged for it,” Gibson said. “Farmers I know are driving 100 miles one way just to pick up diesel fuel in 150-gallon purchases and those are the lucky ones who can get it.”

Florida ag losses were projected at $655 million and counting. Most of this damage occurred in nurseries and tropical fruit in Miami and Dade counties.

When everything is tabulated, the numbers are going to be something this country’s never seen before.

There is no short-term solution in the Gulf region devastated by Katrina. Agricultural producers are going to need disaster assistance and they’re going to need assistance for a long time if they are to get back on their feet.

Right now, these states are looking at survival, saving lives and feeding people. However, attention must be paid to the losses in food and fiber production because it’s farmers and ranchers who help provide many of those resources.

 

John Schlageck is managing editor of Kansas Living, a quarterly magazine dedicated to agriculture and rural life in Kansas.

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