VIDALIA — The Louisiana cotton industry is going to take a blow at the end of this year’s cotton season, a state expert said.

Weather has devastated too much of the crop, and the losses will be great, he said.

“The infrastructure we have in Louisiana and in many rural communities is dependent on cotton,” LSU Agcenter Cotton Specialist Sandy Stewart said. “When we have a year like we have this year, the effect is going to be felt obviously by the farmer, but also by gins, warehouses, aerial applicators — the list goes on.”

But what does Stewart mean by “a year like we had this year?”

The original U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast for cotton yield was for 991 pounds per acre. The most recent forecast reduced that to between 550 and 570 pounds per acre — approximately 40 percent less than initially thought.

The biggest problem came when cotton was at a vulnerable stage as hurricanes Gustav and Ike blew in.

“The plants were already defoliated or ready to,” Stewart said. “That either resulted in the cotton being blown off or a lot of rot and a general deterioration of the crop.”

That meant that in Concordia and Catahoula parishes, where flooding accompanied the rains, thousands of pounds of cotton had to be destroyed, Stewart said.

The outlook for cotton is uncertain, and the economic viability for all crops has taken a drop.

“Input costs have risen dramatically for all crops, and prices have either declined or are stagnant,” he said. “Cotton is a fairly expensive crop to grow, so it is going to be difficult to justify growing much of it.”

Even if it doesn’t rebound by next year, Stewart said he hopes to see the cotton industry return in force by 2010.

“It is an industry that has to survive for rural communities, and it has been resilient in the past — and we will find a way to survive,” he said.