As Francine roars ashore farmers and fertilizer industry prepared and hopeful it is short-lived

HOUSTON (ICIS)–As Hurricane Francine charged forward with its landfall in southern Louisiana as a category two storm late on Wednesday, pushing out high winds and heavy downpours, US farmers and fertilizer industry participants appear prepared for the impacts but are hopeful for a short-lived event.

With crops like cotton and sugarcane in the fields and fertilizer plants scattered across the landscape, there are concerns over how hard Louisiana will be hit with the state already seeing deteriorating conditions since late on 10 September.

Part of the concern anytime there are tropical threats in this area is flooding from significant rainfall especially within the New Orleans area (Nola), whose port is crucial to the fertilizer industry and heavily relied on by agricultural interest as well.

With the last few days having been spent getting ready for this storm that quickly developed, the pace of fertilizers has now taken a step back with a source saying “Eyes are just on Francine at the moment. Nola is at a standstill so hoping the impacts are not long-lived.”

No production impacts have been reported with producers having been quiet on their activities outside of Canadian major Nutrien, who has both production and other interests in the projected path of the storm.

The company said in a statement on 11 September there were no further updates, and it was actively monitoring the storm and did have an active comprehensive emergency response plan.

While the most recent US Department of Agriculture (USDA) crop progress report on 9 September did not indicate any numbers for the Louisiana corn crop, recent field reports have indicated a good portion has been completed with rice and soybean harvest underway in many locations.

Cotton harvest has not begun for most of the state with defoliating applications having recently underway to prepare for machine harvesting which potentially leaves the crop more vulnerable.

Updates on the Louisiana soybean harvest have not yet been released but it is likely some acreage was underway or on the verge of being fully mature with the USDA report showing there was 68% of the acreage that have reached the dropping leaves stage.

Like cotton this puts the crop far into maturity and at risk for intense winds and excessive rain.

By late on 11 September the storm was having significant impacts on Mississippi as well, which is home to not only considerable crop acreage but fertilizer production and storage but also distribution logistics and retail operations.

Like Louisiana, there is considerable soybean acreage in Mississippi, and it is possible that some of this crop was also being harvested or about to commence with it also seeing 68% of their acreage now dropping leaves.

The state also has considerable cotton acreage as well that could be severely damaged by Francine.

The biggest impact from this hurricane for fertilizers will probably not be seen in terms of infrastructure damage to plants or wrecking of logistic operations but it will be based on how hard this hurt farmers and how long they will be drying out.

Once it passes out of Louisiana and through Mississippi the watch will be on for their northern neighbors as the current forecasted path has the storm moving upwards almost parallel with the Mississippi River, bringing further wind and considerable rainfall.

Depending on harvest progress some areas could benefit from the added moisture ahead of making fall applications.

Others will find the sudden shift in conditions to be extremely limiting to further field work over the rest of September, especially for any acreage flooded in the coming days.