July 2009 Articles

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La Agribusiness Summit Forum

Louisiana Agribusiness Summit Forum hears industry outlook The lingering effects of years of hurricane damage & the current economic downturn are dampening La agriculture, a group of industry observers told an Agribusiness Leadership Summit Forum recently. Dr. P Jordan, director of the USDA’s Southern Regional Research Center in New Orleans & president Agribusiness Council of La, told the audience of industry leaders, producers & elected officials that agriculture is not the only industry that’s in trouble. “There are a lot of other people in trouble with us. I think it’s important for us now to look for ways to dig ourselves out of some of these major problems.” The forum was a follow-up to an earlier meeting held in September in New Orleans, according to Dr. S Mullen, LSU AgCenter regional director. “With the many issues facing the La agricultural industry, we wanted to bring these agricultural leaders together again.” The meeting was sponsored by the agribusiness council, the La Dept of Agriculture & Forestry, the LSU AgCenter & the Southern University Ag Center. “Since we last met, a lot of things have changed,” said Dr. Mike Strain, La Commissioner of Agriculture & Forestry. “We’ve seen a collapse in the worldwide economy. There are definite shifts in trading patterns, shifts in banking patterns & shifts in everything that we are going to do. It’s important that we look at that, understand it & attack it.” Strain said now is not the time to be complacent. “Right now is the time to aggressively look at all the opportunities in those clouds. In those dark clouds, there is rain, thunder & lightning, but after that, there will be a great rainbow.” It’s going to take the economy getting better and generating more confidence in the markets in order to get more investors back, said Dr. K Guidry, an LSU AgCenter economist. “This recession is different from the past because of outside markets like the financial markets & the energy markets. What’s happening in those markets is dictating what’s happening more & more in the agricultural market.” The sugar industry in La is looking at ways to cut producers’ costs by encouraging them to adopt some cooperative practices, said J Simon of the American Sugar Cane League in Thibodaux. “We’re showing the producers that they could decrease some of their expenses by purchasing as a group instead of individually.” J Barr of the La Cotton Producers Association said the cotton & soybean industries in north La sustained heavy damage from hurricanes Gustav and Ike. “Our yields were roughly cut in half as a direct consequence of the storms, & we had four gins to shut down. We’ve got warehouse capacity to store about 1.2 million bales of cotton, but this year’s crop was less than 300,000 bales.” C. A. Vandersteen, president of the La Forestry Association, discussed the need for more agricultural research and explained the consequences of not receiving it. He said it seems agriculture is not on the government’s radar. “In the stimulus package, there are allocations of $9 billion for the National Institutes of Health & $3 billion for the National Science Foundation, but nothing for agriculture research.” He said a $1 million investment to plant trees in La will yield $8.5 million in new taxes for the state in addition to $85 million of economic activity. The state’s $1.2 billion poultry industry has been greatly affected by the announced closing of the Pilgrim’s Pride plant in north La, said LSU AgCenter poultry specialist Dr. T Lavergne. “The poultry industry is the largest animal agriculture industry in the state, second only to forestry. The industry is vertically integrated, which means the producers are at the mercy of the company they are producing for. We are happy that the governor & Dr. Strain are moving to look for ways to get the plant back in operation.” A panel that included W Cooper of the USDA Farm Service Agency, L Nelson of the La Bankers Association & R Rogers of the La Agricultural Financial Authority said the state’s agricultural producers have a number of avenues for loans & technical assistance that can help them stay in business. Dr. P Coreil, LSU AgCenter vice chancellor, explained the serious condition the AgCenter will be put in if the state’s higher education budget for the next fiscal year is cut as much as is forecast. “At the AgCenter, we can’t raise tuition to fill holes in the budget, but we will do our best to maintain an acceptable level of support for our clients, but it won’t be easy,” Coreil said.