The COVID-19 virus continues to take its toll on the health of people worldwide as well as on the agricultural markets.
Evangeline Parish County Agent Todd Fontenot explained, “Farmers are generally proceeding as normal with rice and corn crops getting them planted. The Trump administration labeled agriculture as a ‘critical industry’ which allowing them to conduct business as normal amid current restrictions.”
“However,” he continued, “the recent drop in the stock market has caused many prices on ag commodities to decline, but some have rebounded in recent days.”
Here, locally, the agricultural market feeling the brunt effects of the virus is the crawfish market.
“Crawfish may have seen the most impact locally with prices dropping as restaurants have to close to dine in customers,” Fontenot explained. “This has reduced the demand for crawfish in many large cities which are major markets. This has led to both a drop in price the farmer receives and many crawfish farmers are limited to the numbers of sacks they can sell each day. For many this hits in the peak of the season.”
Fontenot also explained, “the livestock market has halted weekly sales which reduces the number of locations in which people can sell.”
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Tony Marks
Editor