Farming Against the Grain: Melanie Netterville Beavers' Journey in Agriculture

In the heart of Tensas Parish, Melanie Netterville Beavers has made her mark on the agriculture industry alongside her husband Kody, working to maintain their family farm.  

Melanie didn’t begin her college journey with her sights set on production agriculture. Initially, she wanted to pursue a career in media for agriculture. However, her direction changed as she realized her passion for hands-on, outdoor work.  

Read More
Avery Davidson
USDA Export Report: Corn Exports Steady, Wheat Disappoints

USDA’s latest export sales report, out Thursday morning and covering the week through March 20, didn’t have a lot of bullish data for traders to digest. Corn volume bested other grains, but sales were down 31% week-over-week and only made it to the middle of trade guesses. Soybean sales were lackluster, meantime, and wheat sales were largely disappointing.

Read More
TradeAllie Shipley
USDA extends response deadline for 2024 Census of Horticultural Specialties

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will continue to collect the 2024 Census of Horticultural Specialties through April 18, 2025. Conducted just once every five years, the Census of Horticultural Specialties is the only source of detailed production and sales data for U.S. floriculture, nursery, and specialty crop industries, including greenhouse food crops.

Read More
Allie Shipley
Grant Money Used To Study Drought Practices of Arkansas Farmers

Students and professors at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock received a national grant to study how farmers’ risk preferences affect water use during droughts.

The three-year study will determine if risk preferences change with drought conditions and climate change. Farmers in rural Arkansas, the Lower Mississippi River Basin, Louisiana and part of Missouri are included in the research.

Read More
Allie Shipley
Louisiana Shrimpers Are Fighting To Preserve A Historic Gulf Industry

It's hard to nail down Dino Pertuit. I finally catch the Louisiana seafood legend early in the morning, and we chat while he drives back from a shrimping expedition, the phone call dropping at least three times along the way. His rich Cajun accent and the rumblings of his truck in the background make it hard for me to decipher everything he’s saying. But one sentence stands out crystal clear: “I’m going to do it until I die,” he says of shrimping. And at 57 years old, he’s one of the younger ones who keep it going.

Read More
AquacultureAllie Shipley