Louisiana’s agricultural industry contributed $8.3 billion, the lowest amount in seven years, to the state’s economy in 2009.
The total is the lowest since 2002, when agriculture contributed $7.5 billion, according to the 2009 Louisiana Summary of Agriculture and Natural Resources, compiled by the LSU AgCenter. The 2009 total was down $1.2 billion from 2008.
The AgCenter conducts the study every year to gauge the health of the agricultural industry and raise awareness of its impact on the economy, said Paul Coreil, the AgCenter’s vice chancellor for extension.
“We all need food to sustain the people of this country and this state, and we take a lot for granted,” Coreil said.
The $8.3 billion value is the combination of two numbers, the gross farm value for a product and the “value-added” total, said John Westra, AgCenter economist and project director for the study. The gross farm value is the amount a farmer is paid when he or she sells a good, Westra said. The 2009 gross farm value was $4.9 billion.
“Combining all commodities grown in the state, all livestock raised and all fish harvested, you end up with $4.9 billion,” he said.
The value-added total includes the next step of processing required to get a commodity ready for consumption, which totaled $3.4 billion in 2009.
An example is rice, which was priced at $13.23 per 100 pounds, Westra said. About 3 billion pounds of rice were sold, bringing rice’s gross farm value to nearly $400 million. 
The next step in processing for rice, which includes transportation to mills to be cleaned, sorted and bagged, accounted for $120 million. Combining the $400 million in gross farm value and $120 million in value added, rice’s contribution to the state economy comes to $520 million in 2009. This process was used to determine the contribution for each commodity and the agricultural total, Westra said.
The decline of agricultural revenue can be attributed to the recession, Westra said. The forestry industry had about $791 million less total value than in 2008. Westra said forestry was hurt by the unemployment rate, which slowed creation of new housing.
“If they’re not building, the lumber they need isn’t going to be demanded,” he said.
Another part of agriculture that took a hit in 2009 was poultry, which was hurt by the temporary closing of a Pilgrim’s Pride plant, one of the largest in the state, Westra said.
Parts of the agricultural industry were hurting in 2009, but one sect was improving — sugarcane. The total value of sugarcane increased by 25 percent from the previous year, mostly because of an increase in price, according to the AgCenter report.
Westra said he doesn’t think 2010 will be much better than 2009 for the agricultural industry because the forestry industry is not expected to change.
“While the unemployment rate remains high, the demand for new homes and, by extension, forest products is going to be down,” he said. “It might not be until 2011 or even 2012 that the forest sector rebounds from the current recession.”—-Contact Ryan Buxton at [email protected]