Seeds to Success: The Louisiana Farm to School Program hosted the first Louisiana Farm to School Institute at the Wesley Center in Woodworth from April 30 to May 3.
Four teams selected from across Louisiana convened to kick off a unique, yearlong professional learning opportunity that helps school teams take their farm to school activities to the next level.
Read MoreCongressman Clay Higgins (R-LA) announced that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has granted his request and included crawfish in the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-raised Fish Program (ELAP).
In January, Congressman Higgins sent a letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack requesting that drought be included as an eligible cause of loss for ELAP. This was a necessary action for Louisiana’s crawfish farmers to qualify and access emergency assistance in response to the severe drought in 2023.
Read MoreTrinity Waguespack is an 11-year-old urban farmer in Lafayette, Louisiana. When she’s not tackling her schoolwork, Trinity is busy growing lettuce in her three hydroponic garden towers. Through precision agriculture and artificial intelligence technology, the towers notify her when the lettuce needs water, even when she’s at swim practice.
Read MoreA proposed seafood bill in the state could create stricter regulations on imported fish.
One owner of a restaurant that’s been in the community for 80 years discusses why its important to keep seafood in Louisiana local.
Read MoreU.S. Congressmen Garret Graves (Louisiana) and Troy Carter (Louisiana) announced today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will provide Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-raised Fish (ELAP) funding to crawfish producers in Louisiana affected by last year’s drought. Graves and Carter led a formal request in February 2024 to the USDA, laying out the authority that Congress had already granted through the ELAP statute; the bipartisan letter asked that the Secretary of Agriculture immediately provide relief to Louisiana farmers who suffered significant crop losses in 2023 due to adverse weather. USDA announced today that they were able to use that discretion to authorize policy flexibilities that will allow crawfish producers to recover losses from last year’s extreme heat.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture expanded emergency assistance to crawfish farmers who suffered from weather issues last summer.
USDA changed regulations of the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-raised Fish, called ELAP, to include crawfish farmers in the federal grants for disasters.
Read MoreI genuinely wish I had better news in this update. Corn is in the ground, and that’s a great start. I know fertilizing needs to happen for some, and others are in the process of planting cotton and soybeans. If not already in the process, I’m sure you want to be. I don’t see that happening for the next week to 10 days.
Read MoreThis summer the Southern University Ag Center will host a Hip Hop to Gen Z Camp, focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) for 6th – 12th grade students.
The camp will be held June 3-14, from 8 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. in Hayden Hall on the Southern University campus.
Read MoreCleveland Bay is the oldest established breed of English Horses. Sandra Marx, a horsemanship teacher at Cove Equestrian Center, owns Melvin, 1 of only 200 Cleveland Bays in North America. Marx says Melvin was a gift to her from her friend Laura.
“Laura was looking for a good forever home for him, and I needed good school horses," Marx said. "I got on him, rode him for the first time and took him home.”
Read MoreMore than 5,000 people filled the streets of downtown Wisner for the Fourth Annual South Franklin Catfish Festival.
“It was a great day,” Chairman Elliot Britt said. “I think it was the best festival we’ve had so far. We were worried about potential bad weather all week, but Saturday could not have been better. A huge thank you to the best committee anyone could ask for. Countless hours and planning goes into this event and we couldn’t do it without the support of a large group of volunteers. It really makes you feel good about our small town.”
Read MoreThe 66th annual Deep South PRCA Rodeo will be held May 16 through May 18 starting at 8 p.m. nightly in Winnsboro.
The kid’s rodeo will be May 11 at 2 p.m. and the annual rodeo parade will be May 18 at 3 p.m. Both weekends are full of “family, friendly entertainment” with everyone invited to attend, according to Buckshot Sims, rodeo director.
Read MoreFor the first time since 1803, more than 1 trillion cicadas from two major broods will emerge from underground dormancy in mid-May and collectively create a loud, high-pitched buzz that will assault your ears for weeks.
The rare overlap in emergence – when cicadas arise from underground – is caused by two specific sets of cicadas. The largest, known as Brood XIX, appears every 13 years. Brood XIII emerges every 17 years.
Read MoreThe Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) is reminding the public and seafood distributors that importing and possessing live red swamp crayfish also known as crawfish or Louisiana crawfish, is prohibited by law in Illinois.
The crustaceans are a popular choice for live crawfish boils.
Read MorePicture this: while folks in the Big Easy are chillin' without a care in the world, sippin' their daiquiris, and enjoying the jazz, up in northwest Louisiana, it's gonna be a whole different story. Get for the invasion of the Cicadas!
Caddo Parish is about to be swarmed by these buzzing critters like it's going out of style. So, if you're planning a picnic or an outdoor shindig, you might wanna think twice unless you're cool with sharing your space with a few thousand extra guests. It's like the cicadas decided to throw their own party, and Caddo Parish is the VIP section.
Read MoreThe invasive Apple Snail was recently found in a live crawfish shipment coming from Louisiana to Arkansas. Experts say while there may not be an immediate concern for rice farmers currently, land owners and crawfish enthusiasts alike should be aware of the snails and alert Arkansas Game and Fish if they spot any of the invasive species.
Read More
