Posted on 05/26/2004 6:19:51 AM PDT by Theodore R.
Flood waters washing away rice crop
Farmers working on what to do next
By PATRICK COURREGES pcourreges@theadvocate.com Acadiana bureau
VILLE PLATTE -- Flood waters have begun to recede in the area around northern Evangeline Parish but not before wiping out thousands of acres of rice. Agents of the LSU Agricultural Center's extension and research programs made the rounds in Evangeline Parish on Tuesday, talking about the things farmers worry about each year -- such as weeds and insects -- and the specific problems of the recent heavy rains.
Days of heavy rains flooded parts of south Louisiana earlier this month, and in some places the waters have yet to recede.
Though rice is a crop that takes a lot of water to grow, it needs the right amount at the right time, said Jeffery Sylvester, whose St. Landry Parish rice farm is near the northeast border of Evangeline Parish.
He's one of the farmers who made the trip to a series of talks -- hosted by local rice growers -- given throughout Evangeline Parish.
Sylvester said he's lost about 1,500 of the 2,200 acres of rice he planted in late March, as flood waters rose above his rice plants and cut them off from the sun.
He said rice needs about 3 inches of water around its base, not a foot of water about its top.
Most of Sylvester's rice crop is lying limply in the waters of his fields when it should be standing thigh-high, he said.
He said neighboring rice farmers are in a similar situation, having to replant most of their crop.
Sylvester said one of his neighbors is probably going to write this season off and try again next year.
Johnny Saichuk, an LSU Ag Center rice specialist, said that the rice crop in northern Evangeline Parish and parts of southern Rapides and Avoyelles parishes just to the north, have been the hardest hit by the flooding that followed May's rain.
He said that while other rice-growing areas also have had to deal with damage from flooding, they're not holding water the way Evangeline Parish fields are.
Sylvester said he's going to try to replant his fields, but the time lost could mean he gets less rice from the seed he plants.
Planting later in the year can mean lower yields from the rice plants come fall harvest, Saichuk said.
"In rice, timing is everything," he said.
Advocate staff photo by Bryan Tuck LSU Agriculture Center rice specialist Johnny Saichuk, left, and county agent Keith Fontenot speak Tuesday morning to rice farmers, scientists and company representatives at the Evangeline Parish Cooperative Extension Office about the various pesticides, herbicides and fungicides in local rice fields. Sylvester said he's also being forced to gamble more than usual on the traditionally most-active part of the hurricane season.
He said he normally plants his crop in three stages, so that if a hurricane hits he's likely to have, at worst, one part harvested, one part that's still too young to be damaged and a third part he could quickly get out of the fields.
Now, Sylvester said, his whole crop is going to be ready for harvest at the same time, which means additional costs for harvesting equipment also.
Saichuk said the rains came at the worst possible time for rice farmers and many are at a loss as to what to do next.
"We always have to adjust for what Mother Nature hands us," he said. "Believe me, it hands us something different every year."
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Whoooo--eeee!!! What a revelation!! It rains a lot in South Louisiana!!
Seriously, this is not an uncommon event in the life of a farmer in South Louisiana (which is why I became a chemist). Heavy rain is a fact of life in S. Louisiana. If it doesn't get the rice, it will get the corn, or the soybeans, or the sugar cane--depending on exactly when in the spring the rains happen to hit.
But of course, this too will be blamed on "global warming".
Yes, rain is common, but not 10" in 3 days. Not to mention rain every day for three solid weeks. I have lilly pads growing in my yard. It has been terrible.
Sure it does. Or do you forget the time when a particularly nasty front dropped 26" of rain on Slidell in a single day?? Over in Pointe Coupee, we had about 10" during that time. I'd say a rainfall like that (10", not 26") happens about every 8-10 years.
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