Power outages alongside mangled trees, ruined crops and damaged grain elevators were early indications of Hurricane Ida's impact on Louisiana's agriculture industry.
The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry did a flyover Thursday across parishes hard hit by the storm. Commissioner Mike Strain saw some stranded livestock and flooding in some orchards in Plaquemines Parish, but it's too early to estimate the total cost of damage.
Read MoreLouisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Dr. Mike Strain says there are a lot of barges and ships grounded in the Mississippi River in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida.
“We have to get the barges floated and the ships back into the channel and get the channel cleared,” said Strain.
“We are some six days out from re-opening the mouth of the (Mississippi) River. We have to remove the debris and get the power lines pulled out of the river.
“We hope the upper river, from basically the Port of (South) Louisiana to Baton Rouge and further north, to have that section of the river open and then start moving cargo again.
“There are a lot of ships in the river that are waiting to be loaded. But we’re also working to get electricity to our refineries and grain elevators so we can get those repaired.
“Nine of Loisiana’’s major refineries, which process over two million barrels of oil a day—or 13% of the US total—were offline in the wake of Ida.”
Read MoreFollowing the devastation caused by Hurricane Ida, State Fire Marshal H. “Butch” Browning and Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain have issued a cease and desist order for all private burning, pursuant to authority under R.S. 40:1602.
Read MoreThe Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry deployed their mobile pet shelter and animal-transport task force on Monday, Aug. 30.
The task force helped to shelter and care for pets in Laplace which saw major flooding caused by Hurricane Ida.
Read MoreAs cleanup from Hurricane Ida begins, Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) Commissioner Mike Strain, D.V.M., is reminding residents to hire only professional-licensed arborists to perform work on storm-damaged trees.
Read MoreMike Strain, Louisiana's commissioner of agriculture, told DTN agriculture in his state is "working the problem," in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, but he spent most of Monday working without communications until those came online in the mid-afternoon.
"We probably have a million people without power in southeast Louisiana right now," Strain said. "There's a lot of destruction to the transmission lines."
Farmers far outside the direct path of Hurricane Ida could face higher diesel prices as they move into harvest, as well as early shipping challenges, depending on the extent of time oil production and Gulf Coast ports are down.
Read MoreSummer/Fall 2021
Read MoreThere are widespread reports of people using Ivermectin—a horse dewormer—to treat the symptoms of COVID-19. Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Dr. Mike Strain, a practicing veterinarian, warns don’t do it. “The World Health Organization has issued a statement warning against the use of Ivermectin saying ‘the anti-parasitic drug is being investigated in clinical trials, but Ivermectin is incorrectly being used for treatment of COVID-19 with out any scientific evidence of safety for treatment of the disease.’
Read MoreThe Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) is now accepting applications for the Louisiana Agricultural Workforce Development Program, LDAF Commissioner Mike Strain, D.V.M., said. The new program provides businesses a monetary incentive to establish intern programs to train students for careers in the agriculture and forestry fields.
Read MoreLouisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) enforcement agents arrested and booked three Allen Parish individuals into the Allen Parish Detention Center for allegedly stealing a large piece of forestry equipment and fuel from an Allen Parish sawmill business.
Read MoreLouisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) wildland firefighters are in Oregon to assist with ongoing wildfires.
A 10-person hand crew, comprised of six personnel from the LDAF and four from the U.S. Forest Service, is supporting engine operations during a 21-day assignment in Medford, Oregon. Using rakes and shovels, hand crews create fire breaks by clearing away flammable debris like dry leaves and digging down to bare soil. Hand crews are used in areas where heavy equipment is unable to access.
Read MoreLouisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) Commissioner Mike Strain, D.V.M., is reminding residents to hire only licensed professional arborists, landscape horticulturists and landscape irrigation contractors when having work done on their property.
Read MoreAgricultural producers in St. Tammany and Washington parishes who lost property caused by straight-line wind, flooding and a tropical storm that occurred April 9 through June 25, 2021, may be eligible for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) physical loss loans, said Louisiana Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain, D.V.M.
Read MoreLouisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry (LDAF) Commissioner Mike Strain, D.V.M., is reminding all Louisiana hog farmers to practice rigorous biosecurity protocols following the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announcement issued late Wednesday confirming cases of African swine fever (ASF) in the Dominican Republic (DR).
Read MoreLouisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) Mike Strain, D.V.M., said an invasive pest native to sub-tropical regions in Asia, the Box Tree Moth (BTM), was confirmed in the United States. The BTM primarily feeds on boxwoods (Buxus spp.) as well as burning bush (Euonymus alatus) and purple holly (Ilex chinesis). The larvae can defoliate adult boxwoods and will feed on the bark once the leaves are gone, which can cause the branches or the entire plant to die.
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