“We are turning 40, Come join us to celebrate!” declares the Mudbug Madness website. What began in 1984 as a two-day street festival in downtown Shreveport is now one of Louisiana's largest Cajun festivals. Lasting three days, it uses two stages to host 30 bands playing country, pop, blues, and zydeco music.
There are art vendors, a children’s area and of course the main attraction, that little red mudbug served with corn and potatoes.
Read MoreThirty-nine percent of the 880 million acres of U.S. farmland in 2022 was rented or leased, a similar rate to that in 2017, according to new data from the 2022 Census of Agriculture.
Read MoreLouisiana Farm Bureau President Jim Harper issued a statement in support of the proposed 2024 Farm Bill presented by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson of Pennsylvania.
Read MoreAgriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is allocating $300 million to 66 U.S. organizations, under the new Regional Agricultural Promotion Program (RAPP), to build demand for American food and farm exports in high-potential markets around the globe.
Secretary Vilsack launched RAPP in October 2023, authorizing $1.2 billion in Commodity Credit Corporation funding to help U.S. exporters expand their customer base beyond traditional and established markets, focusing on regions such as Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and South and Southeast Asia, where consumer demand and purchasing power are growing.
Read MoreSugar, soybean and rice growers, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the crop insurance industry on Monday issued statements praising the farm bill discussion draft released Friday by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., but the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition vigorously criticized it.
Neil Rockstad, a Minnesota sugarbeet grower who is president of the American Sugarbeet Growers Association, and Patrick Frischhertz, a Louisiana sugarcane grower and eighth-generation farmer, said, “We thank the House Agriculture Committee for the strengthened U.S. sugar policy contained in this bill which will help ensure that America’s 11,000 sugar beet and sugarcane farmers and our workers can continue producing an essential ingredient in our food supply, maintain resilient supply chains, and meet the needs of American families and all of our customers.”
Read MoreChantelle Hataway, a third-grade teacher at Lafargue Elementary School in Avoyelles Parish, has been named the 2024 Louisiana Ag in the Classroom Teacher of the Year. The program recognizes educators who effectively integrate agriculture into their core curriculum.
Hataway's passion for agriculture shines through in her classroom. "I was raised on a farm," she says. "My daddy raised cattle. We had chickens, we had pigs...That was our way of life."
Read MoreAmerican Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall commented today on the House Agriculture Committee’s Farm, Food, and National Security Act.
“AFBF appreciates Chairman G.T. Thompson for his work in drafting a modernized farm bill, which we support. The Farm, Food, and National Security Act recognizes the challenges and opportunities facing America’s farmers and ranchers.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will conduct the Soybean Request for Referendum May 6 through May 31, 2024, in county Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices.
The Soybean Promotion, Research and Consumer Information Act requires USDA to conduct a Request for Referendum every five years to determine if producers want to vote on continuation of the Soybean Checkoff Program. The last Request for Referendum was conducted in 2019.
Read MoreU.S. Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz introduced legislation designed to help farmers and ranchers in South Texas impacted by Mexico’s failure to deliver the water it owes the United States under the 1944 Water Treaty.
The lack of water and uncertainty led to the closure of Texas’ only remaining sugar mill earlier this year as sugarcane growers cannot produce a crop without irrigation water.
Read MoreThe LSU AgCenter H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station will open its doors to visitors June 25 for its 115th annual field day, where research projects aimed at developing new rice varieties, managing pests and improving other aspects of production will be showcased.
The event will include tours of research plots along with a scientific poster session, trade show, indoor presentations and lunch. Field tours will start at 7 a.m., with the last wagon departing no later than 8:30 a.m.
Read MoreLast week, USA Rice participated in the U.S.-Cuba Agriculture Business Conference organized by the U.S. Agriculture Coalition for Cuba with the hope of furthering engagement between U.S. rice exporters and Cuban importers.
USA Rice met with private companies, agricultural cooperatives, and Alimport, the government agency that imports agricultural goods (and used to be the only entity authorized to do so). As Cuba is economically transitioning from state socialism to a mixed economy, the private sector is being developed and able to import U.S. goods. Additionally, last month the Cuban government authorized agricultural cooperatives to import and export.
Read MoreOn May 10, 2024, Kenan Shotwell Gwinn of Natchez, MS, was arrested in Catahoula Parish for theft of timber following an investigation by the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry’s (LDAF) Forestry Enforcement Division.
Read MoreAmerican Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall commented today on the release of a farm bill draft in the House Agriculture Committee.
“AFBF appreciates the work of Chairman Thompson and the entire House Agriculture Committee for its work in drafting a new, modernized farm bill.
Read MoreCongresswoman Julia Letlow (LA-05) and Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) introduced the Quality Loss Adjustment Improvement for Farmers Act. This bill will amend the Federal Crop Insurance Act to provide increased and more flexible insurance coverage for farmers who have experienced crop quality loss.
The policies existing in the current Federal Crop Insurance Act do not always provide farmers with the flexibility that is needed for the often unpredictable crop quality losses. Soybean farms in particular have been significantly impacted by quality loss issues.
Read MoreLouisiana Tech University students and the state’s forestry industry are set to benefit from the recent planting of a seed that’s sure to grow.
Representatives of the University’s College of Applied and Natural Sciences (CANS) and the US Department of AgricultureForest Service, Southern Research Station (USDA-FS-SRS) have signed a letter of intent regarding both a shared commitment to forest sector-based research and a collaboration between the two entities regarding the University’s on-the-horizon Forest Products Innovation Center.
Read More
