Despite things looking positive for the rest of 2023 and into the new year, the historic drought Louisiana has experienced over the past year will still put a severe dent in the state’s agricultural sector.
The exact impacts are still being calculated, but the LSU AgCenter estimates that the total economic losses will be at or exceed $1 billion.
Read MoreWildlife enthusiasts from far and near came to hear the latest on wild hogs, food plots and hunting during what has become an annual event in St. James Parish.
Scheduling issues caused the event to be held on Nov. 9 at 5:30 p.m., which didn’t allow for a tour of the food plots, but nobody was left disappointed after the great lineup of speakers and the sponsored dinner.
Read MoreA comprehensive meeting concerning agricultural issues from 2023 will be held at the Vidalia Conference and Convention Center on Dec. 7 from 8:30 a.m. until noon.
The LSU AgCenter-sponsored event will cover such topics as DIRT - irrigation app, extreme heat and drought on soybeans and irrigation efficiency, on-farm irrigation trials, flowmeter and pipe planner, feral hog control bait, making decisions with crop production database, harvest week seed destructor and farm bill update.
Read MoreMore than 1,100 students across a 10-parish region in central Louisiana got to hold a live alligator, see cotton ginned and learn the importance of proper handwashing during a trip through AgMagic, the LSU AgCenter agricultural-themed exhibit.
Read MoreThe Society of American Foresters has named Sun Joseph Chang, a scientist at LSU AgCenter School of Renewable Natural Resources, as one of 32 fellows inducted in 2023.
The fellowship represents one of the highest honors for members of the society.
Read MoreThe Louisiana 4-H Hall of Fame inducted 12 members during a ceremony held Nov. 11 at the Grant Walker 4-H Educational Center.
Read MoreThe LSU AgCenter has begun accepting applications for its 2024 Charles and Rose Broussard Internship program.
The children of Charles and Rose Broussard established this award to honor their parents’ hard work and dedication to agriculture and conservation.
Read MoreSecond graders from across the parish got an early start on farm education at the Lafourche Farm City Day recently held at LSU AgCenter facilities in Raceland.
The program was created to teach parish youth all aspects of farming and how food gets from field to table.
Read MoreEach December, forage producers from around the Gulf South Region meet to hear professionals speak on topics that help their bottom line.
This year’s meeting will be held at the Hurricane Evacuation Center, located at the south end of the LSU-A campus. The campus is located south of Alexandria off Highway 71.
Read MoreOver the past two years, consumers have felt whiplash from volatile grain prices, as powerful players in the global markets cut off trade. It began with Russia’s attack on Ukraine, which disrupted exports of products including wheat and fertilizer from two of the world’s biggest suppliers. Russia has repeatedly used agriculture as a pawn in its game to punish Ukraine and its supporters, and its recent pull-out of the Black Sea grain deal, which had helped keep exports flowing, caused another round of price spikes in the markets.
Read MoreExcessive drought conditions in Louisiana are quickly becoming a natural disaster that will have effects on gardens, landscape plants and natural areas all across the state for some time. We may not understand the full extent of the damage for years. The U.S. Drought Mitigation Center has categorized a substantial portion of Louisiana’s parishes as being in an “exceptional drought” state for an extended period.
Read MoreWildfires that engulfed more than 50,000 acres of Louisiana forests during this summer’s record-breaking heat and drought dealt a blow of at least $71 million to the state’s timber sector, according to LSU AgCenter estimates.
That figure is expected to climb higher as wildfires continue to burn in some areas.
Read MoreThe face of the Harvest of the Month series on Louisiana Public Broadcasting, Crystal Besse does her homework to ensure she nails the history and culture of her adopted home.
Besse followed a career in public health from her native Tennessee to Louisiana, and five years ago she became director of Seeds to Success: The Louisiana Farm to School Program.
Read More“When is the best time to spray fungicides?” is a question that is central to managing many plant diseases. A good answer, however, is rarely simple and several factors, from the economics of fungicide applications to the biology of the pathogen, need to be considered.
Read MoreThe LSU AgCenter is partnering with several universities and countries on a $22 million award from the U.S. Agency for International Development aimed at improving lives around the world by making cereal crops more readily available to those most at risk for hunger and malnutrition.
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