The Crop Production report issued Friday by USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) forecasted corn production down from 2021 and soybean production up from last year. Corn production is down 5% from last year, forecast at 14.4 billion bushels; soybean growers are expected to increase their production 2% from 2021, forecast at 4.53 billion bushels.
Read MoreAl Awees, the purchasing entity in Iraq, has just purchased another 44,000 tons of U.S. long grain rice, completing the terms of the USA Rice-Al Awees Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the 2021-2022 year.
Read MoreJames Travis Johnson, formerly of Pitkin, LA, but relocated to Leesville, LA, was booked into the Vernon Parish Detention Center on timber theft and other timber-related charges on August 9, 2022. He posted the bond of $15,000 on August 11, 2022. Later that day, he was arrested in Rapides Parish on additional timber theft charges.
Read MoreThe National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) announced the award of $15 million in new technical assistance grants as continued funding to nearly 500 conservation districts in 49 states and territories.
Read MorePomegranates are unique fruits whose origins have been traced to Persia. Native to Iran through northern India, they are grown around the world today. The fruit is considered sacred and is believed to provide abundance, fertility and even luck. Fortunately, we can grow the fruit in Louisiana and throughout the Gulf South.
Read MoreUSDA released its August Crop Production report on Aug. 12 and the survey-based report has farmers indicating corn yields will reach 175.4 bushels per acre and soybean yields at a record 51.9 bushels per acre in 2022. This is despite extreme heat and sporadic rainfall throughout the countryside.
Read MoreJason Smith finally received the news he had been waiting 10 months to hear. Judge Alan Zaunbrecher, of the 22nd Judicial District Court, ruled Smith and his family are exempt from sales taxes for beef they sell direct off their Louisiana farm. It has been a long, hard-fought battle, and one Smith said has been confusing from the very beginning.
Read MoreA woman was killed Friday afternoon after crashing into a farm tractor on a highway in Jeanerette.
State Police said the two-vehicle crash happened on LA 85 near LA 673 in Iberia Parish shortly before 4:30 p.m. Friday. It claimed the life of 24-year-old Mariah A. Francis.
Read MoreThe first reconciliation bill passed through Congress in 2021 provided $4 billion in relief for farmers of color. However, after being tied up in the courts over claims of reverse discrimination, the latest reconciliation package – the Inflation Reduction Act – repeals the original provisions and replaces it to be accessible to all USDA distressed borrowers.
Read MoreI heard food futurist Jack Bobo speak at the 37th annual International Sugar Symposium in Vail, Colorado in early August.
The definition of a food futurist is not someone who predicts the future of our food systems but one who can understand what the “preferred” future could looks like and helps existing systems adapt and adjust to that preferred future.
Read MoreLouisiana corn for grain production is forecast at 84.9 million bushels, down 18 percent from 2021. Based on conditions as of August 1, yield is expected to average 175 bushels per acre, down 8 bushels from last year. Producers expect to harvest 485,000 acres of corn for grain, down 80,000 acres from 2021.
Read MoreThe Louisiana Coastal Restoration and Protection Authority (CPRA) recently announced the completion of the Bayou Decade Ridge and Marsh Creation Project in Terrebonne Parish.
The Terrebonne Basin has lost nearly 20% of its wetlands since 1932 resulting from subsidence exaggerated by oil and gas canals and pipelines in the area.
Read MoreAccording to the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office, a member of the Cowboy Church on Hwy 28 East, discovered on Wednesday that the church had been vandalized.
The church’s glass entry door was damaged, along with two double pane glass windows.
Read MoreBurn bans in Bossier Parish and Natchitoches Parish have been lifted.
Bossier Parish Police Jury President Tom Salzer and Natchitoches Parish President John Richmond credit recent rainfall as the reason for calling off the outside burning restrictions that have been in place in their respective parishes since last month.
Read MoreA Louisiana judge has denied an attempt by Washington Parish Sheriff Randy "Country" Seal to collect nearly $40,000 in back sales taxes and penalties from a rancher who sells meat from his own cows under a private label.
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