Cow Country Reporter: December 2023

The year 2023 is coming to a close and what a year it has been! Late freeze, heavy rains early, wild fires and drought just to name a few weather calamities, not to mention wars and political upheaval. The bottom line, Louisiana cow/calf producers realized $70.00 cwt. to $80.00 cwt. price increase from 2022 for their calves they marketed in 2023.

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LivestockAvery Davidson
2024/26 Rice Leadership Development Program Class Includes 3 From Louisiana

Members of the 2024/26 Rice Leadership Development Program class were announced yesterday during the annual Rice Awards Luncheon at the 2023 USA Rice Outlook Conference. The class is comprised of seven rice industry professionals selected by a committee of agribusiness leaders.

“This is an excellent group that displays exceptional leadership potential,” said Rice Foundation Director Dr. Steve Linscombe. “They also represent a mix of southern and west coast individuals which always makes for good class dynamics.”

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H-2A Growth Slows, But Remains Strong

The Department of Labor recently released full fiscal year usage data for the H-2A program. Given agriculture’s ongoing struggle to recruit domestic workers and a very tight U.S. labor market overall, it should be no surprise that H-2A program usage reached new highs again in fiscal year 2023 (October 2022-September 2023), though the rate of growth was down considerably from last year.

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Severe Drought is Taking a Huge Toll on Louisiana Farms, Forests

Louisiana’s abrupt transition this year from one of the wettest states to one of the driest has had crippling repercussions for its farms and forests.

The state’s agricultural and timber industries have suffered nearly $1.7 billion in losses from the long-running drought and recent bouts of record high temperatures, according to a new report from Louisiana State University researchers.

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Congresswoman Julia Letlow Urges the U.S. Department of Agriculture to Support Drought Relief Assistance

Congresswoman Julia Letlow (LA-05) wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Vilsack urging him to ensure our farmers and producers receive the drought assistance that they need.

This past summer, Louisiana was faced with record drought and extreme weather conditions. Because of this, the Louisiana agriculture sector experienced an estimated loss of $1.37 billion in 2023 alone. This kind of loss is detrimental and demands action.

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Avery Davidson
USDA Improves Crop Insurance To Better Support Conservation, Climate-Smart Practices

The 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. 

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USDAdon molino