A 4,462-acre farm with 4,071 tillable acres sold for $22 million, or $4,931 per total acre. The farm has 33% Class I silt loam soils, with the remainder being a mixture of Sharkey, Tensas and Moreland clay.
Read More
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) announced today that it does not expect to purchase and sell sugar under the Feedstock Flexibility Program for crop year 2024, which runs from Oct. 1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2025. The CCC is required by law to quarterly announce estimates of sugar to be purchased and sold under the Feedstock Flexibility Program based on crop and consumption forecasts.
Read More
The Rice Leadership Development Program gives future leaders a comprehensive understanding of the rice industry, with an emphasis on personal development and communication skills. Applications for the 2025-27 class are due by Friday, September 6.
The class attends four one-week sessions over a two-year period that encompasses studies of all aspects of the rice industry through firsthand observations. They also attend seminars and workshops designed to strengthen leadership skills.
Read More
Reliable access to the internet is increasingly necessary to take full advantage of these newer technologies. To that end, there have been several government programs initiated to provide more access to the internet across the U.S. The Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) was announced in 2019 and is focused on improving internet access for rural Americans with $20.4 billion in funding in a ten-year period.
Read More
On August 22, 2024, inspectors with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) Livestock Brand Commission (LBC) arrested Lester R. Johnson, Jr. of Opelousas for felony theft.
Prior to the arrest, an LBC investigation determined that in November of 2023, 32-year-old Johnson fraudulently bid on and was the high bidder on one head of livestock at a local livestock market.
Read More
Click below for the market report from the latest Kinder Livestock Auction.
Read More
September marks National Preparedness Month, serving as a reminder that natural disasters can strike at any moment. Homeowners can take many simple steps to ensure they are ready for potential emergencies and natural disasters.
Read More
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is announcing the launch of the Debt Consolidation Tool, an innovative online tool available through farmers.gov that allows agricultural producers to enter their farm operating debt and evaluate the potential savings that might be provided by obtaining a debt consolidation loan with USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) or a local lender.
Read More
USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service’s (NASS) Census of Agriculture is published every five years and provides data at the U.S., state, and county levels.
One metric tracked is the average age of agricultural producers. This information is provided for selected southern states for the Census reporting periods 2017 to 2022, along with the percentage change in average age for that timeframe.
Read More
The run of dry weather will allow for Louisiana corn producers to complete their harvest this week and yields are way up over last year when the state suffered through a historic drought. Last year farmers averaged 175 bushels per acre. LSU AgCenter Corn and Cotton Specialist Shelly Pate Kerns says production is higher this year.
“In northeast Louisiana, we’ve been cutting anywhere from 180 to 200 about. I went down to central Louisiana yesterday, and I got a report of 240, and that’s pretty much the highest that I’ve heard,” Kerns said.
Read More
CASE Construction Equipment dealer Progressive Tractor & Implement Co. LLC (PTI) announced Aug. 22 they are acquiring the stores and territories of Heartland Equipment to expand their business into the northeastern Arkansas and Memphis areas and help more customers in the region succeed with CASE equipment.
The acquisition marks a new period of growth for leading equipment dealer PTI as they increase their team to over 500 employees and their overall footprint from 22 to 27 locations, supplying the latest construction and agricultural equipment from CASE CE and CASE IH.
Read More
The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL) after operating in New Orleans for ten years, has expanded its oyster shell recycling program to Baton Rouge. This initiative aims to combat coastal erosion by using recycled oyster shells to rebuild and strengthen Louisiana’s fragile coastlines. Spokesperson James Karst says oyster shells are a critical component in creating new oyster reefs, which act as natural barriers against storm surges and help restore marine habitats.
Read More
A U.S. District Court Judge issued an injunction Monday blocking farmworkers in the U.S. on H-2A visas from unionizing in 17 states. The decision halts a recent Labor Department rule intended to give H-2A workers new protections for self-advocacy.
In her ruling, Judge Lisa Wood acknowledged the Department of Labor has the authority to make rules governing H-2A workers. However, she says the Labor Department does not have the authority to “create law or protect newly created rights of agricultural workers.” That authority, she says, belongs to Congress.
Read More
As many of you are aware, in 2022 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released an Endangered Species Act (ESA) Workplan to address compliance with ESA through development of use strategies for herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides to reduce potential environmental impacts from their use on listed and endangered species and their designated critical habitats.
Read More
Louisiana leads the country for soybeans dropping leaves. Soybean maturity in the state climbed 10 percentage points to 40% the week ending Aug. 25. That’s just ahead of the five-year average of 37%.
Soybeans in good/excellent condition made up 74% of Louisiana’s crop the week ending Aug. 25. That’s an impressive number on its own, but a nosedive compared to 84% good/excellent soybeans reported the week prior.
Read More