Louisiana is one of the most hazard-prone states in the U.S., and many
of its people are engaged directly or indirectly in agricultural
activities that are impacted by an array of weather hazards. However,
most hazard impact research on agriculture to date, for Louisiana and
elsewhere, has focused on floods and hurricanes. This research develops
a method of future crop loss risk assessment due to droughts, extreme
low and high temperatures, hail, lightning, and tornadoes, using
Louisiana as a case study. This approach improves future crop risk
assessment by incorporating historical crop loss, historical and modeled
future hazard intensity, cropland extent, population, consumer demand,
cropping intensity, and technological development as predictors of
future risk. The majority of crop activities occurred and will continue
to occur in south-central and northeastern Louisiana along the river
basins. Despite the fact that cropland is decreasing across most of the
state, weather impacts to cropland are anticipated to increase
substantially by 2050.