On February 29th, Louisiana Senator John Kennedy introduced the crawfish recovery assistance from weather disasters and droughts act. The CRAWDAD act would support Louisiana's crawfish jobs, providing farmers with federal aid in order to sustain their business during difficult conditions.
The bill would provide emergency livestock aid due to drought, something that is currently not in effect.
Read MoreAs part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack announced at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s PowerXchange annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas that USDA is moving forward on clean energy investments in 23 states to reduce pollution and strengthen rural America’s power grid. The announcement includes the first five awards totaling $139 million under the Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) program.
Electric infrastructure projects will benefit rural business owners, families and individuals in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, South Carolina, Utah, Texas and Wisconsin.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that agricultural producers and private landowners can begin signing up for the general Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) starting March 4 and running through March 29, 2024. This conservation opportunity gives producers tools to conserve wildlife habitat while achieving other conservation benefits, including sequestering carbon and improving water quality and soil health.
Read MoreThe United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development is providing a grant worth $166,668 to the University of Louisiana Lafayette through the Rural Energy of America Program to assist small business owners in rural areas across Louisiana looking to invest in energy efficient measures.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced loan interest rates for March 2024, which are effective March 1, 2024. 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 MoreSen. John Kennedy (R-La), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, introduced the Crawfish Recovery Assistance from Weather Disasters and Droughts (CRAWDAD) Act. The bill would support Louisiana’s crawfish jobs as droughts and severe weather have put strain on the industry.
“Louisiana’s crawfish farmers have worked hard to weather a bad freeze and devastating drought. My CRAWDAD Act would give mudbug farmers the help they need to keep delivering quality Louisiana fare to crawfish lovers everywhere,” said Kennedy.
Read MoreU.S. Congressmen Garret Graves (Louisiana) and Troy Carter (Louisiana) led a formal request asking that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) provide Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-raised Fish (ELAP) funding to drought-affected crawfish producers in Louisiana. Congress has already granted the USDA discretion to provide assistance to farmers affected by severe weather through the ELAP statute; the bipartisan letter asks that the Secretary use it now to provide relief to Louisiana farmers who suffered significant crawfish crop losses due to extreme heat and drought in 2023.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced the availability of approximately $26 million for the Local Agriculture Market Program (LAMP) to help local and regional food entities develop, coordinate, and expand producer-to-consumer marketing, local and regional food markets, and local food enterprises.
Read MoreMore than 2,000 farms have been lost in Louisiana in between the years 2017 and 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Census.
A census is conducted every five years, and data shows that the numbers are expected to continue dropping. The main reasons are frequent farmer deaths, overpriced labor and a declining farmers networking system.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is expanding crop insurance tailored for nursery producers to all counties in all states. Nursery Value Select (NVS) is a pilot program that enables nursery producers to select the dollar amount of coverage that best fits their risk management needs. Its expansion is part of USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) efforts to provide insurance options for a broader group of producers, including specialty crop producers.
Read MoreA Louisiana congressman is asking the federal government for help with the state’s crawfish industry.
Last week, Congressman Troy A. Carter, Sr. (D-La.) wrote letters to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Small Business Administration (SBA) asking them to help the crawfish farming industry after it was hit by a severe drought and a hard freeze.
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 value of production for field crops in Louisiana during 2023 totaled $2.76 billion, down 7 percent from 2022. The top three crop commodities (excluding sugarcane), corn, rice, and soybeans, accounted for 62 percent of the total value of production for field crops. Corn showed the largest increase at 34 percent in value of production from last year, followed by rice at 11 percent.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) are launching a new initiative to help farmers cut costs and increase income using underutilized renewable technologies including smaller-scale wind projects. Through the Rural and Agricultural Income & Savings from Renewable Energy (RAISE) initiative, USDA is setting an initial goal of helping 400 individual farmers deploy smaller-scale wind projects using USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program (REAP).
Read MoreLouisiana's crawfish industry, a vital part of the state's agricultural landscape and cultural heritage, is in turmoil in 2024.
The industry, already grappling with the aftermath of a severe drought in 2023, has been further devastated by a recent freeze, leading to widespread concerns among farmers and lawmakers about the future of this iconic industry.
In a letter to United States Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-LA, underscored the gravity of the situation.
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