Farmers in northeast Louisiana are waiting to see how much damage their crops may have from recent downpours.

Thousands of acres across the region were impacted by nearly six days of precipitation in late August. Mike Strain, Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture, said it could take another month before the number of crops lost would be known.

“We won’t know what the numbers are until we have completed harvest, and the way it works is the secretary of declaration of disaster is requested by the governor within 90 days of the end of the weather,” Strain said. “The end, not the beginning, so, that means we’ve got to have everything harvested. The enumerators go out, and they work with the farm services agency, and of course, our Ike center knows that. We get those numbers, and that data because you’ve got to have 30% or more loss in a parish for that parish to qualify.”

Local crops have not begun to recover, and it seems that Concordia Parish may have suffered the most damage.

Despite the crop damage in NELA, a West Monroe vineyard owner was able to continue with their annual ‘Grape Stomp Celebration.’

At Landry Vineyards in West Monroe, the Lenoir harvest was completed before the rain began. Their annual ‘Grape Stomp Celebration’ took place Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022.

Source - https://www.ksla.com