Conservation Reserve Program Pays More Than $1.7B To US Producers
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued more than $1.77 billion this year to agricultural producers and landowners through its Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), a critical piece of the Department’s efforts to support climate-smart agriculture and forestry on working lands. Right now, CRP’s more than 667,000 participants received payments from USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) for their voluntary conservation efforts on more than 23 million acres of private land. Since 2021, CRP has grown by 21 percent in terms of acres enrolled, testament to the Biden-Harris administration’s program improvement efforts.
Read More
USDA Sees Tighter US Sugar Supplies
The US Department of Agriculture in its Oct. 12 World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report reduced its estimate of 2022-23 US sugar supply, cut its forecast for 2023-24 supply and cut its projection of Mexico’s 2023-24 sugar production, dropping the US stocks-to-use ratios for both this year and last year.
Read More
U.S. Corn and Soybean Production Down From September
Corn and soybean production is down from September 2023, according to the Crop Production report issued today by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). Corn production is forecast at 15.1 billion bushels, down less than 1% from the previous forecast but up 10% from last year; soybean growers are expected to decrease their production 4% from 2022, forecast at 4.10 billion bushels.
Read More
Louisiana Crop Production
This report contains the results from the 2023 October Ag Yield Survey
Read More
Vilsack Asks Where Reference Price Dollars Will Come From
The head of USDA suggests one of the top requests for the 2023 Farm Bill might be too heavy a lift.
Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says updating reference prices for every commodity would cost $20 billion over ten years.
Read More
Grant Will Train Louisiana High Schoolers on How Drones Can Be Used in Agriculture
The LSU AgCenter and the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture are partnering to bring a drone training curriculum to high school students across the state.
Read More
USDA Extends Application Deadline For Discrimination Financial Assistance Program To January 13
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is extending the deadline for the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program to January 13, 2024, to give eligible farmers, ranchers and forest landowners more time to apply for assistance. The original deadline was October 31, 2023.
Read More
Giving IRA Conservation Funds to Farm Subsidies Threatens Millions of Cover Crop Acres
Millions of potential cover crop acres that may help reduce farming’s greenhouse gas emissions could be lost under a plan to shift $19.5 billion in Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA, funding from conservation programs to increasing price guarantees for farm subsidy programs.
Although many of the states that got the most payments were in the Midwest, the state with the largest EQIP payments for cover crops was Tennessee, at $45.8 million. Louisiana was also in the top 10 states, at number nine, with almost $18.9 million.
Read More
La. Congresswoman Offers Bill to Help Farmers and Ranchers Through Droughts
With Louisiana battling record-breaking drought, farmers and ranchers are stuck with extra expenses to keep their crops and animals alive.
U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, R-La., wants to expand relief under the Drought Assistance Improvement, allowing for quicker payments when times get tough.
Read More
More Parishes Declared Disaster Areas
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has notified Governor Jon Bell Edwards several more parishes in Louisiana have been declared disaster areas due to the ongoing drought.
A Secretarial disaster designation makes farm operators in primary areas and those in parishes and counties contiguous to such primary areas eligible to be considered for Farm Service Agency emergency loan assistance, provided eligibility requirements are met.
Read More
USDA Announces October '23 Lending Rates For Ag Producers
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced loan interest rates for October 2023, which are effective Oct. 2, 2023. USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) loans provide important access to capital to help agricultural producers start or expand their farming operation, purchase equipment and storage structures or meet cash flow needs.
Read More
Dairy Margin Coverage Program Provides Critical Support For Dairy Operations
The August milk margin triggered the eighth consecutive payment for dairy producers who obtained Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) for the 2023 program year. August’s income over feed margin is $6.46 per hundredweight (cwt.) with projected DMC payments totaling $120 million. To date, including the projected August payments, dairy producers have received more than $1.2 billion in much needed economic support for 2023 and margin forecasts indicate the likelihood of more to come before the end of the calendar year.
Read More
Louisiana Grain Stocks Report
This report contains the results from the 2023 September Agricultural and September Grain Stocks surveys.
Read More
USDA Designates 13 Louisiana Parishes as Primary Natural Disaster Areas - Drought (Fast-Track)
This Secretarial natural disaster designation allows the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) to extend much-needed emergency credit to producers recovering from natural disasters through emergency loans. Emergency loans can be used to meet various recovery needs including the replacement of essential items such as equipment or livestock, reorganization of a farming operation, or to refinance certain debts.
Read More
Vilsack Details Government Shutdown Impacts To Rural Communities
Nutrition assistance benefits for low-income women and their children would cease, farmers won't have access to government loans and tens of thousands of USDA staff won't get paid.
Those are the top-line impacts rural communities can expect to experience if Congress fails to pass legislation required to keep the federal government operational before a Sept. 30 deadline, according to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack.
Read More
