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.
Read MoreGrassroots 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!”
Read MoreU.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.
Read MorePresident 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.
Read MoreU.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.
Read MoreThe USDA recently released its annual Acreage Report which provides markets with a more accurate idea of spring planting progress and what potential supply implications may be in store for the 2025 crop year. On the demand side, USDA also released its Quarterly Grain Stocks report which shows usage rates between March 1, 2025 and June 1, 2025. These changes in supply levels will impact 2024/25 ending stocks and 2025/256 beginning stock levels which will subsequently be reflected in the July report.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced loan interest rates for July 2025, which are effective July 1, 2025. USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) loans provide important access to capital to help agricultural producers start or expand their farming operation, purchase equipment and storage structures or meet cash flow needs.
Read MoreLouisiana Congresswoman Julia Letlow has filed legislation that would help agricultural producers impacted by disruptions to the global trade market. Letlow says the bill would create a dedicated fund that would allow the Trump Administration to respond swiftly to trade-related losses.
Read MoreA ridge of high pressure expanding eastward from the western U.S. delivered increasingly hot weather to parts of the Plains and Midwest, while gradually cutting off a previously wet pattern east of the Rockies. Still, before the transition occurred, weekly rainfall totaled at least 1 to 3 inches across parts of the central and eastern U.S., generally benefiting summer crops.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced $26.5 million in grant funding available through the Local Agriculture Market Program (LAMP) to help local and regional food entities develop, coordinate, and expand producer-to-consumer marketing, local and regional food markets, and local food enterprises.
Read MoreWith summer in Louisiana comes hot temps. Really hot temps. And with the hot temperatures comes mowing, grilling, and fire ants.
And fire ants cause more harm and damage than just painful stings. For some reason they are extremely attracted to electricity. When we built our house in North Bossier years ago, we were outside city limits, so we had to have a well. And one soon discovers that fire ants love to find their way into electrical boxes and circuits and cause electrical shorts, or even fires. Hence, another reason for the Federal Fire Ant Quarantine.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) mailed the July cattle survey to about 18,000 cattle operations nationwide to provide an up-to-date measure of U.S. cattle inventories. This is the first July cattle survey mailed to producers since the reinstatement of key reports was announced earlier this year.
Read MoreScientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) are helping American beekeepers solve the mystery behind a widespread honey bee colony collapse and its debilitating effects on U.S. agriculture. Researchers have submitted a manuscript to a scientific journal for peer review based on our research findings that identified high levels of deformed wing virus A and B and acute bee paralysis in all recently USDA-sampled bees.
Read MoreThe National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) announced strong support for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) plan to build a New World screwworm sterile fly facility at Moore Air Base in south Texas. NCBA President Buck Wehrbein and NCBA Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Ethan Lane joined Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins at Moore Air Base for her press announcement.
Read MoreThe USDA said that as of June 15, 93% of the soybean crop across the top soybean-growing states had been planted. The five-year average is 94%.
Louisiana and Minnesota both reached 100% by June 15. They are the first of the top states to wrap up soybean planting.
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