Louisiana agriculture is still thriving despite setbacks like the Gulf Coast oil spill and the slow housing market, according to a recent survey of the state’s agriculture industry.
The annual survey was conducted by the LSU AgCenter and compiled by associate professor John Westra from data collected around the state. The report shows the agriculture industry earned $10.7 billion in 2011, up 7 percent from 2010.
“The biggest increase in value occurred with a handful of smaller commodities,” Westra said, mentioning that the feed grain, soybean, wheat, sugar cane and cotton industries all made significant improvements.
Westra said those commodities combined for a nearly $700 million increase, a huge percentage of the $721 million total increase of Louisiana’s agriculture.
He attributed the increase to a higher price and a larger amount of these goods produced.
“The yields were down slightly, but there were more acres planted for all of them,” Westra said about feed grain, wheat and
cotton, specifically.
The rice industry saw a decrease from $411 million in 2010 to $366 million in 2011. Westra attributed this decrease to nearly 120,000 fewer acres for rice production.
He said the acres taken away from rice production weren’t lost, though, and instead were used for the production of other commodities.
The fisheries data on this year’s report reflected the numbers from 2010, the year of the Gulf Coast oil spill.
Although the pounds of fish caught decreased significantly – somewhere between 17 and 35 percent – Westra said an increase in the price of fish made up for most of the loss. He said there was probably only a 5 to 10 percent change in the 2011 and 2010 numbers.
The state’s forestry industry also saw a decline of about $24 million, which Westra attributed to the slow housing market.
“Even though it looks big in absolute terms, when you look at it as a whole, it’s not that much,” Westra said, adding it only marks about a 3-percent decrease from the $824 million total in 2010.
The numbers for 2011 will likely reflect those of 2012, Westra said.
He said the prices of the commodities are still strong, and he expects farmers to plant more of these commodities in 2012 as long as the price and demand remains high.
He doesn’t envision the forestry industry to pick up until the housing market sees an increase in sales.
“A lot can happen depending on the weather,” Westra commented.
He said the drought in 2011 greatly affected the beef cattle industry, but called the rain this spring “very hopeful.”
 
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Contact Kevin Thibodeaux at [email protected]