The USDA has imposed sanctions on five produce businesses for failing to meet contractual obligations to the sellers of produce they purchased and failing to pay reparation awards issued under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA).
Read MoreThe Southern University Ag Center will hold its Spring Garden Workshop, themed “Pollinators and Wildflowers” from 8:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. on April 27 at the Multipurpose Building of the Maurice A. Edmond Livestock Arena, 14600 Scenic Hwy. in Baton Rouge, La.
Read MoreSU Ag Center will host a virtual Produce Safety Alliance Grower (PSA) Training Course for fruit and vegetable growers from May 9 - 12, 2022.
Read MoreIt’s been two years since Forest Hill held its nursery festival, but the community is preparing for a big weekend. Every year in March, people flock to Forest Hill for the nursery festival, better known to some as Louisiana’s Festival of Flowers.
Read MoreA team of LSU AgCenter researchers gave an update to sweet potato growers at the recent annual meeting of the Louisiana Sweet Potato Association.Topics included ongoing developments within the industry including variety development, diseases and ways to combat pests such as weeds and nematodes.
Read MoreSeveral U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) national program deadlines are approaching.
Read MoreTemperatures got down to the low-to-mid 20s in southeast Louisiana this weekend where strawberries are produced. But Tangipahoa Parish Associate Extension Agent Mary Helen Ferguson says producers were prepared for below-freezing temps.
Read MoreGardens in the area are struggling during the drastic weather changes.
With all types of gardens in the area, from ornamental to vegetable gardens, some homeowners might not know what will sustain delicate plants in the extreme weather changes.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will conduct the 2021 Commercial Floriculture Survey with approximately 70 producers in Louisiana.
Read MoreStrawberries, Louisiana’s state fruit is planted in early fall. Strawberry farmers anticipate harvesting in the spring.
William Fletcher is one of three strawberry farmers left in Ponchatoula, Louisiana.
“It is a difficult industry to be in. There are more stable paychecks to be had outside of farming,” Fletcher said. “And, to be quite honest with you, land is worth a whole lot in certain areas of the state.”
Farms in Louisiana have dropped 9% according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service census. Expensive land sold to developers turns into subdivisions and shopping malls.
Read MoreThis time of year, south Louisiana locavores usually begin shopping for local citrus to use in everything from brunch mimosas to sweet potato soufflé tucked in orange halves. But the lingering impacts of Hurricane Ida are going to make it harder to source those juicy naval oranges and grapefruits this fall, say agriculture experts.
Last month, the LSU AgCenter reported the loss of an estimated $584 million within the state’s collective agriculture industry due to Ida, a Category 4 storm that made landfall near Port Fouchon on Aug. 29. Louisiana citrus groves, some of which had already been damaged from Hurricane Zeta in 2020, saw significant damage from Ida’s continuing onslaught of wind and salt water intrusion, as well as from a thick layer of mud and sludge left after the storm.
Read MoreFor more than 30 years, sweet potato farmers have turned to chlorpyrifos, or Lorsban, to control wireworms, but with the Aug. 18 decision by the Environmental Protection Agency that essentially bans the use of Lorsban from now on. Growers will need to look for new ways to control the pest.
Read MoreIn 2022, the Louisiana Sweet Potato Commission will celebrate its 70th year representing sweet potato growers, shippers, processors and bankers by educating consumers on the yam’s many nutritional attributes and versatility.
“The alluvium soils of Louisiana produce a high-quality product and our growers have been doing it a long time,” said Rene Simon, director of the Louisiana Sweet Potato Commission. “We also have the added benefit of the LSU Ag Center Sweet Potato Research Station, which is dedicated fully to sweet potatoes. Our growers have that knowledge available to them.”
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it will soon publish Requests for Applications (RFAs) for new grant programs - the Pandemic Response and Safety (PRS) Grant program and the Seafood Processors Pandemic Response and Safety Block Grant program - to support agricultural stakeholders who haven’t yet received substantial federal financial assistance in responding to the COVID-19 crisis.
Read MoreRodrigo Valverde, a professor in the LSU AgCenter Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology, has been elected a fellow of the American Phytopathological Society.
The society honored Valverde for his research in describing and characterizing many newly recognized viruses that cause disease in beans, citrus, pepper, sweet potato, tomatoes and ornamentals.
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