Practically speaking, he would be better off to just write this off. Any punishment will just cost more money.
Instead, he could use this as a launching pad to make improvements in the system that would be better for both Louisiana agriculture and the food stamp recipients as a group.
Agriculture is a difficult enterprise, and having a lean crop may actually be more profitable than an overabundant crop. Excess crops have been hurting American farmers since the early part of the 20th Century, and ways to reduce the excess often do them a world of good economically.
So what the state could do is purchase the excess crops, as a “bonus distribution” to those on food stamps. Stuff they would get for free in addition to what they get with their food stamps.
When president Reagan dumped excess government cheese, for example, it was not only of huge benefit to the cheese industry, but it *saved* the federal government hundreds of millions of dollars in storage costs. And it didn’t affect the retail price of cheese one dime. Oh, and lots of poor people got free cheese. What’s not to like?
Louisiana produces a lot of rice, sorghum, soybeans, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, peaches, strawberries and melons. And remember, this only applies to *excess* crops.
And in the Louisiana has been trying for years to come up with recipes for nutria, perhaps it is time that food stamp recipients learn to appreciate nutria chili, nutria jambalaya, smoked nutria and sausage gumbo, stuffed nutria hindquarters, and nutria stew.
Since they might know the name nutria, various recipes could be called by its other names, Ragondin and Coypu. Same difference, fewer nutria.