Was rice ever a major crop in SE LA?

Doubt it. No clay pan.

I read a book years ago about St James Parish written by an old timer and one chapter was about rice fields as far as the eye can see. It was mostly about duck hunting and how the hunting declined rapidly once rice was replaced with sugar cane.

jmh5724 Was The old timer that wrote that book Elton Oubre??

Thanks for the response. Eltons book is out of print now, but his daughter is thinking about a new printing. Just wondering as I have ahd the pleasure of knowing Elton "Skip" and still think of him fondly

Your uncle was an amazing man and I am honored to have known him and to this day think of him often. Thanks but I dont really want one I live here but aint from here. Skip was a very positive influence on or writing was an avid reader our blog and is in it in several posts

Yes, many farmers already in Louisiana had turned to rice after sugar prices crashed in the 1800s. Louisiana rice production went from 1.5 million pounds in 1864 to more than 40 million pounds by 1877, according to the March 1932 issue of the “Rice Journal.”

The 1890 crop was a record breaker at 80 million pounds, making Louisiana the No. 1 rice producing state, surpassing the former leader, South Carolina.

In the early 1900s, more Louisiana farmers switched to rice, according to the 1910 Annual Report of the USDA Office of Experiment Stations. “The ravages of the boll weevil have made the growing of cotton less profitable than formerly and the farmers are turning to rice growing. This necessitates the installation of pumping plants, the building of levees, etc., and the cotton growers are usually entirely unfamiliar with such things.”

Most of St. Tammany & Tangipahoa along Lake Pontchatrain were rice farms at one time. All of that marsh where it turned into hardwoods were rice fields.

Okay, this talk of changing habitat and AG practices got me wondering. When I was young the oldtimers always talk about swatting tons of ducks in the old rice fields and cypress swamps. I've been on a lot of the STT and Tangi lakeshore/marsh and the only land obviously setup for rice production is the fields in Madisonville. I always just figured it was done more recent for duck habitat.

There was rice production as recently as the 1900s on the northshore?

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boudin is/was made with less rice in the Thibodaux area.

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Is that why everyone seems to hate on Bourgeois' boudin?

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There was rice production as recently as the 1900s on the northshore?

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High water in 1912 destroyed Madisonville's status as a major rice growing area, however, two rice fields in Madisonville continued production through the 1950s which were located along the old Ponchatoula Road and the Brewster farm.