Congresswoman Julia Letlow announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has designated the Ouachita River as a U.S. Marine Highway, further unlocking the 605-mile river’s potential to spur economic development in North Louisiana.
Letlow called for the designation in a March letter to DOT Secretary Sean Duffy, touting the river’s capability to facilitate commerce, reduce highway congestion, and move freight. The designation enables local agencies, industries, and shippers to become eligible for federal infrastructure grants.
The H-2A program allows eligible employers in the U.S. an avenue to request and hire foreign workers to fill temporary agricultural jobs. Applicants must be certified and demonstrate a lack of willing, qualified, and available U.S. workers to fill the temporary roles and that the wages and working conditions available to similarly employed U.S. workers will not be adversely affected.
Application numbers tend to be the largest in states like Texas, Louisiana, and North Dakota but requests are for smaller numbers of workers per application compared with the leading authorized worker areas.
The Southern University Agricultural Research and Extension Center (SUAREC) was honored to host 25 exceptional Mandela Washington Fellows — a prestigious cohort of young African leaders recognized for their innovation, entrepreneurship, and dedication to advancing agriculture across the continent.
Chosen from a pool of over 50,000 applicants, the 700 fellows selected for this year’s Mandela Washington Fellowship represent the brightest minds from across Africa. SUAREC, in partnership with Dr. Sarah Becker of Louisiana State University (LSU), proudly welcomed a select group of 25 agricultural changemakers to its campus for an intimate tour and engagement session highlighting the Center’s impactful research, outreach, and community-based agricultural initiatives.
St. Mary Parish Councilwoman Dr. Kristi Prejeant Rink relayed a message from Bayou Bend Health System to the council Wednesday: The Franklin hospital is in no danger of closure from Medicaid cuts.
Rink spoke at a Parish Council meeting and said she was repeating a message from Bayou Bend CEO Stephanie Guidry.
The message was that “there is no immediate risk of Bayou Bend closing,” Rink said.
A closely watched study of how many redfish and other species the industrial menhaden industry nets and ultimately kills off of Louisiana’s coast shows the numbers are not as bad as some had feared, but recreational anglers called the results concerning nonetheless.
Industry officials pointed to the study as evidence that they did not deserve to be vilified, particularly given their economic contributions to the state. Conservationists highlighted the effects on redfish in particular while calling for further precautions.
A social media post from Louisiana Democrats suggests that the Louisiana Republican delegation is responsible for the potential closure of rural hospitals throughout the state following their support for President Trump's "One Big, Beautiful Bill."
However, Senator Bill Cassidy stated that that wouldn't be the case.
In a statement to The Shreveport Times regarding the post, Cassidy stated that people who are opposed to President Trump are opposed to the bill and will twist things around to say things that aren't true.
The Nutrien Ag Solutions Texas Rice Field Day was held yesterday at their research station south of El Campo. General Rice Business Manager Randy Ouzts welcomed attendees and provided an overview of Nutrien’s rice breeding activities, and rice breeder Nanyen Chou explained the various steps in pure line rice variety development.
Dr. Steve Linscombe, director of The Rice Foundation, was there to talk about ongoing USA Rice activities as well as the Rice Leadership Development Program, which is currently accepting applications.
Farmers have until July 25 to submit nominations for the 2026 Farm Bureau Farm Dog of the Year contest, which comes with cash prizes and bragging rights. This is the eighth year of the contest, supported by Nestlé Purina PetCare, which celebrates farm dogs and the many ways they support farmers and ranchers.
The grand prize winner – Farm Bureau Farm Dog of the Year – will win a year’s worth of Purina Pro Plan dog food and $5,000 in prize money.
Tuesday, Mexico’s National Service of Agro-Alimentary Health, Safety, and Quality (SENASICA) reported a new case of New World Screwworm (NWS) in Ixhuatlan de Madero, Veracruz in Mexico, which is approximately 160 miles northward of the current sterile fly dispersal grid, on the eastern side of the country and 370 miles south of the U.S./Mexico border. This new northward detection comes approximately two months after northern detections were reported in Oaxaca and Veracruz, less than 700 miles away from the U.S. border, which triggered the closure of our ports to Mexican cattle, bison, and horses on May 11, 2025.
This July, Busch Light is launching brand new limited-edition Farming Cans across the U.S. and continuing to encourage consumers to ‘Choose Beer Grown Here.’ This year’s Farming Cans — vibrantly wrapped with a red barn design, a tractor and eagle soaring over lush cornfields — are truly brewed for the farmers, honoring the hardworking men and women of American agriculture and reinforcing Busch Light’s commitment to farming and ranching communities.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March aimed at revitalizing America’s timber industry by increasing logging on federal lands, streamlining permitting, and reducing regulatory delays.
But in Louisiana, where the timber sector has been in long decline, early reactions suggest the impact has been minimal — at least for now.
Grassroots cattle industry organizations throughout the United States are sharing support for Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins’ National Farm Security Action Plan.
Louisiana Cattlemen's Association President and Cattle Producer Jarett Daigle:
“Louisiana Cattlemen's Association is appreciative of Secretary Rollins' plan to put farm security first. Agriculture built this land, and we must safeguard it for our future generations!”
For decades cotton was king. But this year the Louisiana cotton crop is expected to be the smallest in history. State Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain says input costs to produce cotton has gone up and the price farmers can get for cotton has gone down from two dollars a pound in the mid-1800s.
Cotton, once king in Louisiana, has become little more than an afterthought for farmers whose fertile fields once looked like snow covered ground with fluffy white bolls during the late summer as harvest approached.
But this summer Louisiana producers will plant the fewest acres of cotton in the history of the state as the crop's decline accelerates.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced that agricultural producers who suffered eligible crop losses due to natural disasters in 2023 and 2024 can now apply for $16 billion in assistance through the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program (SDRP).
To expedite the implementation of SDRP, USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) is delivering assistance in two stages. This first stage is open to producers with eligible crop losses that received assistance under crop insurance or the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program during 2023 and 2024.
An invasive species of ants not native to the U.S. has been detected in Louisiana. A colony of the Asian needle ant was detected in East Baton Rouge Parish last month. Aaron Ashbrook, an entomology professor at LSU, says as the name implies, the species is native to Japan and China, although it’s been in the U.S. since the 1930s; and it was recently found in the South.
In its latest Crop Progress report, the USDA rated 75% or more of the soybean crop in four of the top 18 soybean-growing states good/excellent.
USDA rated 87% of Louisiana’s crop good/excellent, the highest percentage of all top soybean-growing states. What’s more: Just 13% of the state’s crop were rated fair, and none were rated poor or very poor.
Not all jewels shine deep-green like emeralds or have the sparkle of diamonds. Some tumble from algae-coated cages in a rush of rock and shell, briny water splashing alongside them onto the boat deck.
These fine commodities are oysters, grown and harvested just off Louisiana’s coastline. Traditionally, they’ve been farmed on seafloor beds, but some producers are now cultivating oysters in a string of floating cages.
The Town of Iowa will hold a Farmer’s Market on Saturday, July 19, with several attractions for the public to enjoy.
New this year is the “Rib Throwdown.” Entry is free, and participants can win cash prizes.
There will also be a performance by Brandon Ledet & Creole Touch from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Sumitomo Forestry Co. officially announced it has acquired 100 percent of interests in the Teal Jones Louisiana Holdings through its Sumitomo Forestry America Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary.
"With these acquisitions, we will begin the launch of our first timber industrial complex*1 in the US. In addition to dimension lumber*2 and other materials to build houses and multi-family residential buildings in Louisiana, this complex will consider manufacturing mass timber*3 to maximize the value of wood through the cascading utilization of logs where nothing goes to waste. Harnessing the synergy effect with our existing US operations in residential property development, real estate development and FITP,*4 we are aiming to further grow our businesses in the US," according to a press release.
President Trump signed H.R. 1 also known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) Act” on July 4, 2025. The OBBB Act contains a much-needed update to commodity and crop insurance programs- with some of those improvements beginning with the 2025 crop year. However, the agricultural-related provisions of the OBBB Act extend beyond the farm safety net to include several tax-related benefits for farm operations. This report highlights selected provisions of the OBBB Act.
Youth livestock exhibitors from not only Beauregard Parish but across Louisiana and Mississippi gathered in at the Beauregard Parish Fairgrounds in DeRidder recently for the 19th Annual Watermelon Classic Livestock Show, a cherished tradition in Beauregard Parish. This year’s event reached a milestone with an impressive 638 junior entries, making it the largest turnouts in the show’s history. This year we added Adult Showmanship with an additional 44 entries. Making our total entries 682!
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins alongside U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced the next pillar of her Make Agriculture Great Again initiative: USDA’s National Farm Security Action Plan. This historic plan elevates American agriculture as a key element of our nation’s national security, addressing urgent threats from foreign adversaries and strengthening the resilience of our nation’s food and agricultural systems.
On Friday, the Fourth of July holiday, President Trump signed into law the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB Act, officially known as H.R. 1), which concluded a frenzied two weeks of legislating, lobbying, and advocacy aimed at getting the bill across the finish line. For rice farmers, there have been several key policy wins that USA Rice has been advocating for since the farm bill reauthorization process began in 2022.
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