Louisiana sweet potatoes appear to have escaped damage from Katrina
Louisiana sweet potatoes appear to have escaped damage from Katrina
Hurricane Katrina's course on Aug. 29 devastated New Orleans, Mississippi and Alabama, but the Louisiana sweet potato crop appears unscathed by the ferocious weather event.
Sweet potato shipper Matthew Garber of Garber Farms in Iota, LA, which started shipping new-crop sweet potatoes in mid-August, said Aug. 30 that "the most rain any Louisiana sweet potato field caught was one-and-a-quarter inches. It was pretty much not a big issue [for the Louisiana sweet potato industry]. The crop is fine."
He said that the disruption of the trucking industry for Louisiana is unknown at this time.
According to Bryce Malone, who heads the Louisiana Sweet Potato Advertising & Marketing Commission in Baton Rouge, Garber Farms is the states largest sweet potato shipper. Several Aug. 30 phone calls to produce companies in the New Orleans and Mississippi area by The Produce News were met by phone lines that were unanswered or out of order.
Mr. Malone said Aug. 30 that he had not had an opportunity to talk to anyone about the sweet potato crop. Instead, he said, as a staff member of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry, he was being assigned to work at distribution centers somewhere in the New Orleans area.
These centers will give three items to hurricane victims: ice, bottled water and meals ready to eat. Mr. Malone and other state department of agriculture employees underwent training to run such centers on Aug. 29-30. He said that he would be leaving for the duty on Aug. 31 and expected to be so-occupied for perhaps weeks.
Its going to be a skeleton staff here in Baton Rouge to run the state department of agriculture he said.
His work of the sweet potato commission would take a back seat for an indefinite period of time, he added. He said that his office was closed on Aug. 29-30. The Produce News reached him by telephone late on Aug. 30 as was preparing to leave for his indefinite public-service duty.
The telephone for the Mississippi Sweet Potato Council in Mississippi State, MS, was out of order on Aug. 30. While the Louisiana sweet potato crop dodged Hurricane Katrinas huge amounts of rainfall, growers in Mississippi were perhaps not so fortunate. The Produce News will continue reporting on this as communications return to normal.
Sweet potato shipper Matthew Garber of Garber Farms in Iota, LA, which started shipping new-crop sweet potatoes in mid-August, said Aug. 30 that "the most rain any Louisiana sweet potato field caught was one-and-a-quarter inches. It was pretty much not a big issue [for the Louisiana sweet potato industry]. The crop is fine."
He said that the disruption of the trucking industry for Louisiana is unknown at this time.
According to Bryce Malone, who heads the Louisiana Sweet Potato Advertising & Marketing Commission in Baton Rouge, Garber Farms is the states largest sweet potato shipper. Several Aug. 30 phone calls to produce companies in the New Orleans and Mississippi area by The Produce News were met by phone lines that were unanswered or out of order.
Mr. Malone said Aug. 30 that he had not had an opportunity to talk to anyone about the sweet potato crop. Instead, he said, as a staff member of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry, he was being assigned to work at distribution centers somewhere in the New Orleans area.
These centers will give three items to hurricane victims: ice, bottled water and meals ready to eat. Mr. Malone and other state department of agriculture employees underwent training to run such centers on Aug. 29-30. He said that he would be leaving for the duty on Aug. 31 and expected to be so-occupied for perhaps weeks.
Its going to be a skeleton staff here in Baton Rouge to run the state department of agriculture he said.
His work of the sweet potato commission would take a back seat for an indefinite period of time, he added. He said that his office was closed on Aug. 29-30. The Produce News reached him by telephone late on Aug. 30 as was preparing to leave for his indefinite public-service duty.
The telephone for the Mississippi Sweet Potato Council in Mississippi State, MS, was out of order on Aug. 30. While the Louisiana sweet potato crop dodged Hurricane Katrinas huge amounts of rainfall, growers in Mississippi were perhaps not so fortunate. The Produce News will continue reporting on this as communications return to normal.
