|
Northeast Louisiana | This is a very broad topic, because the term agriculture could cover not only traditional row crop and livestock operations, but horticulture, vegetable, and other specialty crops.
As far as row crop agriculture goes, one of the biggest factors I see for the long term is available land. Hundreds of thousands of acres of delta land have been bought as investments for absentee owners, and they often put these in WRP programs and manage them for hunting. And this is a growing trend.
Another trend that started maybe 10 years ago with "Freedom to Farm" and has really taken off with the recent high grain prices a fundamental shift from the traditional southern cropping mix. We in the south are blessed to be able to grow a more diverse mix of crops than northern areas, but wide shifts in cropping stresses the infastructure. For example, I know of several cotton gins that aren't running this fall, and probably will never open back up. Once these are lost, they probably won't come back. So in a few years when corn is back down to $2.00, we'll be wondering if we have the infastructure to handle a record cotton crop, and the guys who spent a fortune on grain bins will be going broke.
Water issues are also going to be a problem. Southern agriculture is gone without water, and if heavy government regulations reduce our ability to irrigate, we'll have major problems.
On the upside, I think our flexibility to be able to respond to the market is a plus. On my farm I have grown in the past 10 years: 1300 lb cotton, 200 bushel corn, 60 bu soybeans, 60-70 bushel wheat, 180 bushel rice, and 500 bushel sweet potatoes. This allows me to respond to market demands.
New farmers? No such thing. Impossible to do if you don't inherit or marry into an existing farm. No way I would recommend someone start farming from scratch now. | |
|
Future of agriculture in the South?
