Students could be guaranteed domestic catch when seafood is on the school menu if a proposal before the Louisiana Legislature becomes law. The state House approved a bill Tuesday that would prohibit any public or private schools that receive state money from serving foreign seafood to students.
Read MoreLouisiana lawmakers are considering a batch of bills to safeguard the state's seafood industry from an influx of foreign shrimp and crawfish and to strengthen safety measures for imported products.
Some bills would increase fees and licensing requirements on dealers bringing in foreign seafood and expand safety testing. Others would require more accurate labeling about where any type of seafood originates and ban the use of foreign seafood in school lunch programs.
Read MoreTwo British YouTubers, Josh and Ollie of the popular JOLLY channel, embarked on a quintessential Louisiana experience - indulging in a traditional crawfish boil. Their destination? Salvo’s Seafood, a local spot in Belle Chasse not far from New Orleans known for its authentic Cajun cuisine.
Upon arrival, the duo couldn't help but notice the abundance of pickup trucks, a stark contrast to the vehicle landscape back in the UK. "Seems like there are more trucks here than in the entire United Kingdom," Josh joked, setting the tone for the light-hearted culinary experience ahead.
Read MoreThe new Shellfish Pilot Crop Insurance Program, offered through the USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA), offers you, as an oyster producer, needed protection from environmental challenges and it also allows you to insure for a higher price based on your personal sales records. You are now eligible for protection against losses due to named storms, excessive heat during a low tide event, freeze during a low tide event, or low salinity due to excessive rainfall.
Read MoreThey’re nicknamed “mudbugs” for a reason. The natural behavior of crawfish farmed in rice-paddy ponds across South Louisiana is to dig watery burrows to escape summer heat and spawn in semi-hibernation. But last summer’s intense drought dried up even irrigated ponds, cracked open the clay soil, and baked those burrows.
Read MoreThe U.S. Small Business Administration today announced the opening of a SBA Business Recovery Center in Avondale on Tuesday, April 2, to provide a wide range of services to businesses impacted by severe or extreme drought that occurred Sept. 19 - Dec. 5, 2023. The center will open as indicated below.
“Given the economic losses Louisiana businesses have faced, our priority is to provide them with all the support they need to assist in their recovery,” said Francisco Sánchez Jr., associate administrator for the Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience at the Small Business Administration.
As we head into Easter weekend, crawfish sellers are warning customers about the ongoing crawfish crisis.
If your family plans to host a crawfish boil, sellers said you may want to have a backup plan. Restaurant owners said they don’t have much on hand and if they do, it’s going to cost you.
Read MoreThe U.S. Small Business Administration is reminding small nonfarm businesses in Louisiana about the approaching deadline to apply for a federal disaster loan for economic injury after the statewide drought.
The deadline to apply is Monday, April 29.
Read MoreGood Friday is a big day for seafood, but one of the worst crawfish seasons on record has made it hard on local sellers.
Crawfish prices went up just ahead of Easter weekend by 50 cents a pound, almost double what they were last Easter, according to The Crawfish App.
Read MoreState lawmakers advanced separate bills Tuesday to address the dominance of cheap foreign seafood in Louisiana. One would require seafood dealers to pay higher fees for importing foreign catch into the state, and another would require wholesalers and retailers to obtain a new seafood importer license.
House Bill 748, sponsored by Rep. Jessica Domangue, R-Houma, would raise the state’s imported seafood safety fee from a flat $100 per year to a 0.1% assessment on the company’s gross revenue.
Read MoreOver the past decade, crawfish (often known as crayfish outside the US) production in Louisiana and the surrounding region has grown to become, arguably, the second most valuable sector in US aquaculture behind only catfish. This low-input, environmentally sustainable industry is based on management practices that mimic natural hydrological and vegetative cycles. It is also, however, greatly influenced by the weather and when normal precipitation patterns are disrupted crawfish populations (and harvests) can be significantly impacted. This 2023- 2024 season is a sobering illustration of how severe those impacts can be.
Read MoreUnder the watchful eye of her mentor, Lily May carefully measured catfish fillets, powdered gelatin and water. May was preparing an experiment to test the effects of coatings on the omega-3 fatty acids in refrigerated catfish.
May’s mentor, Evelyn Watts, a seafood extension specialist with the LSU AgCenter and Louisiana Sea Grant, has supervised graduate and undergraduate students conducting research in her lab, but May, a junior at St. Joseph’s Academy, was the first high school student Watts has worked with.
Read MoreOyster farmers in Cameron Parish are hopeful that a new initiative will further drive business.
Back in 2022, a grant was given to the Cameron Parish port to establish a new kind of oyster park located at the south end of Calcasieu Lake.
Read MoreCongressman Clay Higgins (R-LA) announced that the Small Business Administration (SBA) has approved Governor Landry’s drought disaster declaration request and extended the deadline for the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) applications in response to the 2023 drought.
Congressman Higgins led a letter with members of the Louisiana Congressional Delegation to the SBA Administrator, Isabel Guzman, in support of Governor Landry’s request earlier this week.
During the House Appropriations Committee FY2025 Department of Agriculture Budget Hearing, Congresswoman Julia Letlow (LA-05) questioned U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and discussed the steps his Department is taking to provide assistance to our agriculture industry.
Congresswoman Letlow highlighted the challenges Louisiana farmers, ranchers, and producers are facing due to high temperatures and drought from 2023. Specifically, the Congresswoman urged Secretary Vilsack to use his authority and provide relief to the crawfish industry.
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