For most of my childhood, I grew up about 10 miles west of Vidalia, Louisiana, where the Mississippi River bridge crossed over to Natchez, Mississippi. But when I was about 2 years old, we actually lived in Vidalia for a couple years in a little eggplant-colored house close to the levee. Later on, the houses on that side of the street were torn down to make way for the new bridge that was completed in 1988. So, then there were two — eastbound and westbound.
Read MoreChallenging. Discouraging. Just plain bad.
These are some of the words that Louisiana sweet potato farmers and scientists who study the crop use to describe the 2022 growing season. From high input and labor costs to adverse weather conditions, this year brought a range of problems to an industry already struggling with declining acreage and fewer outlets for selling the flavorful orange tubers.
Read MoreThe LSU AgCenter is celebrating 50 years of advancing agricultural excellence in Louisiana.
In 1972, the LSU Board of Supervisors established the LSU AgCenter, requesting that agricultural activities have an identity separate from that of the existing campuses.
Read MoreMembers of the 2023/25 Rice Leadership Development Program class were announced last Thursday during the annual Rice Awards Luncheon at the 2022 USA Rice Outlook Conference. The class is comprised of seven rice industry professionals selected by a committee of agribusiness leaders.
Read MoreThe U.S. rice industry bolsters our longstanding commitment to conservation and sustainability each year by recognizing industry leaders to showcase their stewardship efforts in preserving wildlife habitat and efficient use of natural resources.
Read MoreLouisiana hatcheries set 3.35 million broiler-type eggs during the week ending December 10, 2022, up 1 percent from the comparable week in 2021 but down 5 percent from the previous week.
Hatcheries in the United States weekly program set 240 million eggs in incubators during the week ending December 10, 2022, up slightly from a year ago.
Read MoreLouisiana Central is searching for a farmers market outreach coordinator to provide technical assistance to Alexandria Farmers Market vendors, potential vendors and local farmers. The new position and outreach programs will be funded by a three-year USDA grant to support the agricultural community and consumers.
Read MoreWhen drought conditions set in across Louisiana this summer, many farmers resorted to irrigation to try to save their crops. While it helped preserve yields and quality in some cases, the sharp uptick in irrigation raised an alarm among those who monitor water usage in agriculture.
Read MoreThe American Agricultural Law Association recently welcomed its new president-elect, Jake Parker of North Carolina, and directors, Marisa Bocci of Washington state and Whitney Ivey of North Carolina. They took office during the association’s annual educational symposium, Nov. 10–12 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Read MoreAs sugar cane trucks line Lafourche Parish roads this month to gather the 2022 harvest, local farmers have something to celebrate – sugar cane crops this year may go down as being one of the best the state has ever seen.
According to industry trade group American Sugar Cane League, the state’s greatest harvest on record is considered to have been in 2016, when Louisiana sugar cane farmers produced about 251 pounds of sugar per gross ton of sugar cane.
Read MoreThe LSU AgCenter and LSU College of Agriculture announced the winners of their annual faculty and staff awards during a joint ceremony with the Southern University Ag Center and Southern University College of Agricultural, Family and Consumer Sciences Dec. 12 at LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center.
Read MoreThe LSU AgCenter has named two well-established leaders to key director positions.
Michael Salassi will serve as interim executive associate vice president and director of the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station and Tara Smith as interim executive associate vice president and director of the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service.
In these positions, Salassi and Smith will support the statewide efforts of research and extension.
Read MoreEvery year at the Annual Rice Awards Luncheon Rice Farming bestows three awards: Rice Farmer of the Year, the Rice Industry Award, and the Rice Lifetime Achievement Award. These annual recognitions, co-sponsored by Horizon Ag and USA Rice, highlight some of the most positive achievements associated with the U.S. rice industry.
Read MoreEverything has its place, and when an element is misplaced, it loses its value.
For instance, healthy soil is the foundation of any crop operation. But if that soil ends up where it shouldn’t be, such as in a road’s ditch or on your house’s carpet, it becomes dirt. Likewise, a healthy plant in a row crop or pasture will provide a farmer a rich harvest or food for livestock. However, if a plant grows where it shouldn’t, it merely becomes a weed.
Read MoreLouisiana cotton production and yields were both higher in November while sugarcane production and yield were both down.
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