State officials are urging residents to be extremely cautious about lighting anything on fire after dry and windy conditions contributed to a record number of wildfires over four days. State Agricultural and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain said from Friday to Monday there were 124 fires in Louisiana.
Read MoreLouisiana Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain joins Brian to talk crawfish prices, strawberry season and the news back from his recent trip to Cuba.
Read MoreCrawfish lovers know that prices have been pretty high this season.
The summer drought and cold winter temperatures devastated the production of this year’s crop. Commissioner Mike Strain with the Department of Agriculture & Forestry sat down with KSLA on Tuesday, Feb. 27 to discuss the outlook for the rest of the season.
Read MoreThe leader of an association of top U.S. state agriculture officials on Wednesday said his country might want to take advantage of reforms underway in Cuba, possibly through investments.
Commissioners from Louisiana, Indiana, South Carolina, Michigan and Montana all told Reuters at the cooperative they sensed Cuba was changing. They cited the emergence of more than 10,000 non-farm small and medium-sized businesses over the last two years, some linked to farm supply and food processing.
Read MorePresident Miguel Díaz-Canel received agricultural secretaries from several U.S. states and representatives of that sector visiting Cuba, of whom he stressed that he has always worked to find ways to break down walls.
It is a pleasure and a satisfaction to have them present in Cuba in such an important composition, said Díaz-Canel, quoted by the Granma newspaper.
Read MoreThe Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) is now accepting grant applications for the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure program (RFSI).
The LDAF will work in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)to award $4.6 million for equipment and infrastructure projects to Louisiana food and farm businesses, as well as other eligible entities including nonprofits, local government entities, tribal governments, schools, and hospitals.
Read MoreLouisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Dr. Mike Strain asked U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to fund the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees and Farm-Raised Fish program, or a similar program, to aid Louisiana crawfish farmers affected by drought and cold temperatures. Strain made the request in a letter dated February 2, 2024.
Read MoreOn January 26, 2024, investigators with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) Forestry Enforcement Division and the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office arrested James E. Doyle of Elizabeth, Louisiana, for trespassing and setting wildfires on company land in Rapides Parish.
Read MoreThe Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) will work in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to award $4.6 million through the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program (RFSI).
Read MoreLouisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) is now accepting applications for the 2024 Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP), funded through the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA-AMS).
Read MoreThe Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry’s (LDAF) Livestock Brand Commission will host its next saddle microchipping event on Thursday, February 1, from 10 A.M. to 2 P.M. This event will be held at the LSU AgCenter’s DeSoto Parish Extension Office, located at 10117 Highway 171 in Grand Cane, Louisiana.
Read MoreWith temperatures dipping near or below freezing in parts of the state beginning early next week, Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) Commissioner Mike Strain, D.V.M., urges livestock and pet owners to take necessary precautions to protect their animals. This is also the time to protect plants, pipes, and, of course, people.
Read MoreFederal agriculture officials, in cooperation with Louisiana agriculture officials, have established a federal quarantine area for huanglongbing (HLB; citrus greening), caused by Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, in all of Saint Charles Parish in Louisiana.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA APHIS) took the action in cooperation with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF).
Read More"The catches have been so minimal that in most areas they've quit fishing," Louisiana Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain said.
Strain told WWL's Tommy Tucker that crawfish farmers by and large have no product to sell, but it's not for a lack of trying.
Read MoreThe months-long battle against hundreds of wildfires across Louisiana has made clear that the state is ill-prepared for hotter, drier summers producing multiple simultaneous blazes that ravage forests, imperil communities and stretch the state’s firefighting capabilities beyond the limit.
That’s the message state Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain is sending to lawmakers as he lobbies for a substantial boost in funding for Louisiana’s largest wildfire fighting agency.
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