Frigid Weather from the Heartland to the Southern States
In the South, lingering warmth is confined to the southern Atlantic region. Meanwhile, freezes occurred Tuesday morning as far south as the Gulf Coast from Texas to Alabama. Gusty winds accompany the cold surge, resulting in dangerously low wind-chill readings. Tuesday’s actual minimum temperatures fell below 0°F on the Ozark Plateau and dipped to 20°F as far south as the central coast of Texas and southern Louisiana. Freeze-related impacts in Louisiana’s sugarcane areas should be minimal, as harvest was effectively complete.
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Louisiana Farmed Grass-fed Beef Delivered to Zachary Schools
A special delivery was made to all schools in the Zachary Community School District on Jan. 5.
Grass-fed beef from family-owned Muse 3 Farms in Greensburg was delivered by the Muse family to the school cafeterias. Muse 3 Farms is a vendor provided by the LSU AgCenter to supply the schools through a grant awarded to the ZCSD child nutrition program.
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Dr. David Fang Receives 2023 Cotton Genetics Research Award
Dr. David Fang, geneticist for USDA-ARS at the Cotton Fiber Bioscience Research Unit in New Orleans, is the 2023 Cotton Genetics Research Award recipient.
The announcement was made during the 2024 Beltwide Cotton Improvement Conference, which convened as part of the 2024 Beltwide Cotton Conferences in Fort Worth.
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Crawfish Prices Rise Statewide
Since the drought, crawfish prices have been on the rise. Farmers have not been able to keep water in their crawfish ponds. As the demand for crawfish remains steady, the decreased availability has created a ripple effect in the market, which causes crawfish prices to double.
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Compete for Cash Prizes During the Inaugural Louisiana Ag Week
Cash prizes and bragging rights are up for grabs during the inaugural Louisiana Ag Week taking place March 18 through 22.
The Louisiana Ag in the Classroom program will be hosting a coloring contest, art contest and a video contest for students in all grades during Ag Week.
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The Time is Now to Meet Your Legislators
It's time to prepare for the 2024 regular session of the Louisiana legislature that begins March 11th at the Capitol in Baton Rouge and ends June 3rd. It's an 85-day session with no restrictions on what types, or how many, pieces of legislation can be filed for the session. It's what's referred to as a, "Katy bar the door" session where anything goes.
The new year begins with a new legislative scenario, i.e. of the 144 legislators in the legislature, 46 will be new with a new governor, as well. Louisiana will have a new speaker of the house, a new president of the senate, and new chairpersons for both the house and senate committees.
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Speaker Devillier Makes Committee Appoinments
Speaker of the House Phillip DeVillier released his committee assignments to legislators as well as the names of committee leadership ahead of the Special Session that begins Monday. The list of chairs includes fourteen Republican leaders as well as two Democrats.
“After meeting with members of the House as well as the Governor, we have selected a group of chairs who can help to advance the priorities of the people of Louisiana and unify our body so they remain focused on what will move our state forward,” said Speaker DeVillier.
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APM Terminals to Build $500m Terminal in Plaquemines, Louisiana
Maersk’s port operating company APM Terminals will build a $500m terminal in Louisiana, US after moving forward on a letter of intent with the Plaquemines Port Harbor and Terminal District.
The new container terminal on the West Bank of Plaquemines Parish will be built on land leased to APM under a 30-year agreement with initial investment including an on-dock rail, and a berth capable of handling 14,000 TEU ships, the largest able to travel through the Panama Canal.
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Four States Ag Expo to be Held in Arkansas
Growers and producers from Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma will find the latest research-based information on row crops, livestock and forages, forestry, horticulture, integrated pest management, pollinators, mushrooms and more at the Four States Ag Expo on Feb. 8. It will be held at the Four States Fairgrounds in Texarkana.
The event is a joint project of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service and Texas A&M-AgriLife Extension Service.
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Farmers in Caddo Parish Prepare for Winter Blast
The cold arctic blast on the way to the ArkLaTex and the wintery precipitation is not fit for man nor beast. And that really hits home with Marty Wooldridge of Northern Caddo Parish, a cattle farmer as he preps for the cold weather.
"We kind of know the plan, we know what we need to be doing," says Wooldridge. "We're really fortunate. You know, your guys on TV, y'all are giving us several days of warning, so we're prepping the next couple of days.
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Louisiana Crawfish Farmer Goes Viral For Explaining Why Prices Are So High
With the 2024 crawfish season approaching, everyone in Louisiana is starting to get antsy. We know that for one reason or another, this past year was not a viable crawfish season for farmers and we can expect higher prices, but why?
A Louisiana crawfish farmer, Shelley Aucoin, broke down the facts about everything you need to know going into crawfish season. His post has over 500 shares on Facebook alone, and the message is simple, "Our farmers are trying their very best to get these little buggers to our pots for us to serve y’all. Please be patient with us."
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USDA Helps Producers Prepare for and Recover from Severe Winter Weather
Winter storms create significant challenges and often result in catastrophic loss for agricultural producers, especially for those raising livestock, row crops and vulnerable crops like citrus. Despite every attempt to mitigate risk, your operation may suffer losses. As you prepare for the potential impacts of upcoming winter weather, know that USDA offers several programs to help with recovery.
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Precision Agriculture Summit Postponed
The LSU AgCenter precision agriculture summit set for Jan. 17 at the State Evacuation Shelter in Alexandria has been postponed because of weather. Plans are to reschedule the summit for a later date.
This summit is one of two planned. The second, scheduled for Feb. 23 at Fletcher Technical Community College in Shriever, is still on as scheduled.
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January Market Update for Corn, Soybeans, Rice, and Cotton
This month’s 2023/24 U.S. corn outlook is for greater production, larger food, seed, and industrial use (FSI), increased feed and residual use, and higher ending stocks. Corn production is estimated at a record 15.3 billion bushels, up 108 million as an increase in yield to a record 177.3 bushels per acre is partly offset by a 0.6-million acre decline in harvested area.
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Discrimination Financial Assistance Program Applications To Be Accepted Through Jan. 17, 2024
Due to a number of circumstances on Saturday, January 13, 2024, including severe winter weather in the Midwest that may have prevented some applicants from reaching local program offices as well as a brief outage of the e-filing platform in the evening, the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program will accept applications through Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024.
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