LSU President William F. Tate IV embarked on a four-day whirlwind tour across Louisiana last week, connecting with communities and showcasing LSU's dedication to the state's future.
The Scholarship First Bus Tour focused on aligning the university's research with Louisiana's economic needs, as Tate met with students, alumni and industry leaders across several key communities in Louisiana from Oct. 15-18.
Read MoreThe 87th Annual International Rice Festival (IRF) took place this past weekend, bringing together an estimated 100,000 attendees to celebrate the state's deeply rooted connection to rice under the theme “Rice: a Louisiana Cuisine.”
The festival is Louisiana’s longest-running free agricultural event, as well as one of its largest; Festival President Joshua Spell, a Crowley native and executive chef at the popular local eatery Fezzo’s, emphasized the importance of keeping the festival free for the community.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a historic $1.5 billion for 92 partner-driven conservation projects through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), a partner-driven approach to conservation that funds solutions to natural resource challenges on agricultural land. Partners will provide $968 million in contributions to amplify the impact of the federal investment. Louisiana Projects include the AR-LA CDN Open Pine Landscape Restoration #2, to receive $21,250,000 in funding, and the RCPP Alternative Funding Arrangements (AFA) for Federal Fiscal Year 2024, to receive $17,000,000 in funding. Selected RCPP projects, including those in Louisiana will help farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners adopt and expand voluntary, locally led conservation strategies to enhance natural resources while tackling the climate crisis.
Read MoreThe U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol, a leading program for responsibly grown cotton, today released its 2023/24 Annual Report, showcasing record grower participation and notable strides in environmental stewardship. The report highlights the program’s progress in driving transparency and continuous improvement across the cotton supply chain, even amidst a challenging economic climate for growers.
Read MoreShe wears spotless white sneakers, he wears mud-tinged cowboy boots.
They’re walking together through downtown Indianapolis, past a wedding party where men in suits and women in traditional Indian gowns dance in the street, on their way to a coffee shop. The man, Colton Conley, was at the shop yesterday, where he found a latte he likes. He’s not much of a coffee drinker; there are no coffee shops where he’s from.
They’re both a long way from home.
Conley flew in from Louisiana, where he grew up on a cattle farm and attends Louisiana Tech, for the National FFA Convention.
Read MoreWith farmers up against tight margins and continuing to wait on a new Farm Bill, the Farm Assistance and Revenue Mitigation (FARM) Act has been introduced to Congress to help offset some of that financial pressure.
Authored by Rep. Trent Kelly (R-Miss.) on the House Ag Committee, the FARM act offers payment assistance to eligible farmers. Farm CPA Paul Neiffer dives into the details on the Top Producer podcast.
Read MoreOn October 28, USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will mail the Cost of Pollination Inquiry – November 2024 to nearly 16,000 producers nationwide, including 80 Louisiana crop producers. The survey results will help producers and beekeepers monitor and react to changes in production costs. Pollination expenditures are a necessary part of agriculture and are directly tied to the health of the honey bee industry.
Read MoreOfficials in Clinton worked multiple brush fires just north of the town Tuesday evening.
About 10 to 15 fires were set for about five miles on the west side of LA 67 going toward LA 432.
Department of Agriculture and Forestry officials said the fires were not arson, and likely a mechanical failure.
Read MoreThe farm bill is critical to the success of America’s farmers. It must be renewed every five years, and it provides farmers with a safety net to survive difficult times.
Despite its importance, the farm bill expired in September 2023. Congress passed a one-year extension, but that too has now expired.
Read MoreA new utility-scale solar facility was unveiled Monday in Washington Parish and is expected to go online in the next few days to generate enough electricity to power roughly 11,500 homes.
D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments, one of the nation’s largest independent solar power producers, unveiled its 50-megawatt solar facility on about 447 acres of private land just outside Franklinton. The Sunlight Road Solar facility boasts new technology in the form of all-terrain, sun-tracking sensors developed by the Oakland, Calif.-based Nevados.
Read MoreAn agriculture expert says this year’s Louisiana sugarcane crop had great growing conditions although Hurricane Francine’s strong winds damaged some crops.
An estimated two million tons of sugar is expected to be produced from this year’s crops.
Read MoreNotice of a major Disaster Declaration for the State of Louisiana is hereby amended to include the following areas among those areas determined to have been adversely affected by the event declared a major disaster by the President in his declaration of September 16, 2024.
Read MoreAccording to sources close to the matter, Governor Jeff Landry is expected to declare an official “state of emergency” on the pine beetle infestation in Louisiana.
In the order, it directs the Department of Environmental Quality to issue a set of emergency rules aimed at easing regulations previously identified by the emergency beetle subcommittee as burdensome.
Read MoreIt looks like Louisiana may be done with tropical threats for 2024 but there is another weather concern underway across much of the state: drought.
To be clear, conditions are not as severe and the dry pattern has not lasted nearly as long as the wildfire-enhancing drought of 2023. But given last year’s situation, farmers, foresters and ranchers are having flashbacks.
Read MoreThe Morgan City Shrimp and Petroleum Festival was recently in the spotlight for selling imported shrimp. The same consultant group who genetically tested the shrimp continued their investigation at the National Shrimp Festival in Gulf Shores and found the same situation.
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