Louisiana corn for grain production is forecast at 119 million bushels, unchanged from the October 1 forecast but up 61 percent from 2022. Based on conditions as of November 1, yield is expected to average 175 bushels per acre, unchanged from last month but up 5 bushels from last year. Producers expect to harvest 680,000 acres of corn for grain, up 245,000 acres from 2022.
Read MoreIn Louisiana cooking, rice is practically its own food group. There’s steamed white rice as the base for dishes like gumbo, crawfish étouffée, and red beans and rice. There’s rice that’s cooked with seasonings and sausage for a one-pot meal, like jambalaya. There’s dirty rice that’s speckled with meat and seasonings, using underutilized organ meat like chicken livers and gizzards. And finally, there’s rice dressing—a more “dressed up” version of dirty rice.
Read MoreLast week, nearly a dozen rice farmers representing all six major rice-producing states fanned out across Capitol Hill to meet with Members of Congress and key staff, sharing industry concerns and priorities for the 2023 Farm Bill, labor, and trade issues.
Read MoreThe McNeese State University Farm is growing a little rice. McNeese, the LSU Agricultural Center and Jefferson Davis Rice Growers have joined forces to research varieties of rice that grow well in Southwest Louisiana.
Read MoreSince the launch of the first Landsat satellite in 1972, NASA has been mapping global agriculture to provide critical knowledge about the role U.S. agriculture plays in the global food system. Fifty years and eight Landsat craft later, the volume and value of data collected is staggering. Researchers, scientists, and stakeholders gathered here last week for the official kick-off of NASA Acres, the next project that aims to turn Earth observation (EO) technology into a critical tool for America’s farmers.
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 MoreEarlier this year, USA Rice President & CEO Betsy Ward announced she would retire after 18 years at USA Rice, 16 of them in her current role, and almost four decades advocating for U.S. agriculture and forestry in Washington, DC, and around the world. Peter Bachmann, USA Rice vice president of policy & government affairs since 2019, was named her successor by the Board of Directors on Tuesday.
Read MoreUSA Rice recently hosted a delegation of six Central American retailers and distributors from Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Costa Rica for a week-long trade mission through rice country in the mid-south.
The tour included two main stops in Memphis, Tennessee, and Lafayette, Louisiana, where participants met with USA Rice members and industry representatives.
The 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.
Read MoreOn Wednesday, Congressman Mike Johnson (R-LA) was elected as the 56th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
The fourth-term congressman from Shreveport has been serving as the vice chair of the House Republican Conference since January 2021 prior to ascending the highest post in the House.
Read MoreIn true Louisiana fashion, we go from one festival to another! Last weekend, Crowley, “The Rice Capital of the World,” hosted the 86th International Rice Festival to celebrate the rice industry. This weekend, a few miles away in Thornwell, “The Yellow Rail Capital of the World,” plays host to the 15th Annual Yellow Rails and Rice Festival.
Read MoreOnce again, this historic city of 12,000 in southwest Louisiana became the center of the rice world last week with tens of thousands gathering here to celebrate the great grain with four days of music, competitions, and more for the 86th International Rice Festival (IRF). This year's theme, “Rice…A Farming Family Tradition,” was chosen by Festival President Kevin Spell, and it proved exceedingly prescient.
Read MoreIt's a time filled with live bands, carnival rides and of course, festival food. It's also a time to remember the struggles that rice farmers faced this year with the drought and high temperatures effecting rice crops and the industry.
KATC spoke with one family who has been rice farming for 6 generations and hopes to pass on the love of rice and stress the importance of it for the future generations to come.
Read MoreThis past weekend, the International Rice Festival held its 86th Annual Queen and Honoree’s Ball to kick off the week of the festival and honor those in the local rice industry presiding over this year’s festivities.
Audrey Spencer, a lifelong educator and resident of Crowley, will serve as the Children’s Parade Grand Marshall on Friday afternoon, and Christine and Dwayne Fulton, with Falcon Rice Mill of Crowley, will serve as the Grand Parade Marshalls for Saturday’s Parade.
Read MoreThis month’s 2023/24 U.S. corn outlook is for reduced supplies, lower feed and residual use and exports, and smaller ending stocks. Corn production is forecast at 15.064 billion bushels, down 70 million on a cut in yield to 173.0 bushels per acre. Corn supplies are forecast at 16.451 billion bushels, a decline of 160 million bushels from last month, with lower production and beginning stocks.
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