The Louisiana agriculture industry earned nearly $10 billion for the state’s economy in 2010, according to a list compiled by the LSU AgCenter.
The number is up 20 percent from the year before, according to the summary.
The data for the Agriculture Summary, collected under John Westra, LSU AgCenter economist and project director, was based on the production and income of certain commodities like forestry, poultry, aquaculture and sugar cane.
Agencies like the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries measure the production and income of corn, cotton, sugar cane and other crops but ignore areas like fruit and vegetables produced in Louisiana, which are included in the AgCenter summary, Westra said.
Of the areas studied, the summary shows the poultry and forestry industries increased in production and income the most.
The poultry industry earned about $1.5 billion, and the forestry industry earned around $3 billion, according to the summary. The two industries make up nearly half of the total agricultural earnings.
Westra said the two industries make up such a significant part of the industry that when they suffer, as they did in 2008 and 2009, they bring the entire agriculture total down.
Westra attributes the 2008 and 2009 decline in the poultry industry to a temporary factory shutdown, which returned to operation in 2010.
Westra also said the individual broilers — meat-producing factories of chickens — all had increases in production in 2010. Westra said despite the increase, the poultry industry is still slightly below the industry’s average from past years.
The forestry industry suffered because of the collapse of the housing market, which caused the demand and price of timber to go down in 2008 and 2009, according to Westra.
Westra attributes the success of the forestry industry in 2010 to the first-time homeowner tax incentives. Westra said as long as there is an excess of existing housing and a decrease in new home building, the industry will remain at below average levels.
“One of the main reasons we started to compile this list … was to gauge what was contributing to the economy,” Westra said.
Westra said the list is important because it illustrates how different natural disasters and social factors are affecting the economy.
But while the list encompasses many industries, there are some fields that remain missing.
Westra said there are unknown values like the buffalo or bison industry, which are currently unaccounted for.
“We have no idea what the actual number is,” Westra said. “We come up with the best estimate possible.”
The Agriculture Summary has been gathered every year since 1978 by the AgCenter.
Westra said the Agriculture Summary is the most extensive and complete report of its kind in the state and the entire country.
 
—-
Contact Kevin Thibodeaux at [email protected]