As of December 1, Louisiana upland cotton production is forecast at 210,000 bales, down 30,000 bales from the November 1 forecast and down 148,000 bales from last year. Yield is expected to average 877 pounds per harvested acre, down 125 pounds from last month and down 27 pounds from 2022. Harvested acreage is estimated at 115,000 acres, down 75,000 acres from 2022.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is updating the Federal crop insurance program to affirm the use of USDA conservation practices as Good Farming Practices for crop insurance. Recently, USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) recently updated the Good Farming Practices Handbook, as part of the agency’s broader efforts to support conservation and climate-smart activities as well as to improve crop insurance for agricultural producers.
Read MoreAs part of ongoing outreach efforts to help farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners who experienced discrimination by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Analytic Acquisitions LLC will host a series of informational events in Louisiana in December.
Authorized by Section 22007 of the Inflation Reduction Act, the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program (DFAP) makes available $2.2 billion to producers who experienced farm-lending discrimination prior to January 1, 2021. These events will offer guidance on how to apply and how to access the support.
Read MoreThis program consists of ive webinar sessions (2 hours each) over the basics of crop insurance. The objective is to provide growers with the information needed to make an informed decision.
Crop insurance education consisting of sequential webinars, homework assignments, and help sessions, will be delivered via a partnership of subject matter experts and extension educators in 10 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.
Read MoreThe USDA/1890 National Scholars Program is aimed at bolstering educational and career opportunities for students from rural or underserved communities around the country. It was established in 1992 as part of the partnership between USDA and the 1890 land-grant universities.
USDA’s Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement (OPPE) manages the 1890 National Scholars Program, which is aimed at increasing the number of students from rural and underserved communities who study food, agriculture, natural resource and other related sciences.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has launched an online application for Direct Loan customers. More than 26,000 customers who submit a Direct Loan application each year can now use an online, interactive, guided application that is paperless and provides helpful features including an electronic signature option, the ability to attach supporting documents such as tax returns, complete a balance sheet and build a farm operating plan. This tool is part of a broader effort by USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) to streamline its processes, improve customer service, and expand credit access.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) announced that starting Dec. 18 they will mail the 2023 Census of Aquaculture to all producers who indicated in their 2022 Census of Agriculture that they produce and sell aquaculture products. The deadline to respond is Jan. 15, 2024.
An ag census special study, the Census of Aquaculture will provide comprehensive aquaculture data at the state and national levels, including production volume and methods, surface water acres and sources, and sales. Federal, state, and local governments, agribusinesses, trade associations, and producers use these data.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is further expanding the opportunities for producers to consider Enterprise Units as risk management options. The USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) is expanding Enterprise Unit availability to additional specialty crops and other actual production history (APH) crop programs. Together with the six crop types announced July 6, 2023, for Enterprise Unit protection, these crops could benefit from the availability of Enterprise Units where they were previously unavailable.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced loan interest rates for December 2023, which are effective Dec. 1, 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 MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has waived certain notice of loss requirements for 2023 for the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-raised Fish (ELAP) and Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP). In an effort to streamline assistance to support access to critical 2023 natural disaster recovery assistance, USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) is waiving the requirement to submit ELAP or LIP notices of loss within a pre-determined number of days for 2023.
Read Morehe United States Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency (USDA RMA) released several important updates to sorghum crop insurance that will continue to expand sorghum production and empower farmers across the nation. Effective in 2024, the price election factor for sorghum will be at its highest level ever relative to corn; simplifications made to the sorghum silage policy will offer more support to sorghum farmers; and a key barrier to insuring irrigated double crop sorghum was removed in certain areas.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture released its latest version of the Hardiness Zone Map, and Louisiana’s zone has gotten warmer.
The USDA Hardiness Zone Map classifies geographic regions by their average minimum winter temperatures. The map helps gardeners and landscaping experts choose plants that are suited to specific climates and take care of them on the correct schedule.
Read MoreU.S. farm establishments received 14.9 cents per dollar spent on domestically produced food in 2022 as compensation for farm commodity production. This portion, called the farm share, is a decrease of 0.3 cents from a revised 15.2 cents in 2021. The farm share covers operating expenses as well as input costs from nonfarm establishments.
Read MoreIn a surprise move for so late in the season, USDA raised its corn yield forecast by nearly 2 bu. per acre in the November Crop Production Report. With a larger crop currently being harvested across the U.S., it means estimated corn ending stocks is getting even bigger, but analysts say the increase wasn’t as big as it could have been since USDA also boosted demand.
Read MoreLouisiana 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.
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