Timber Market Analysis Webinar Set for October
Forisk Consulting will hold a webinar on Timber Market Analysis Class in October and COFC foresters and Master Loggers can earn 3 CE credits to attend one day of the two-day event or 6 CE credits if they attend both days.
The live Zoom webinar will be held frm 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. CDT Oct. 1 and 2. It is designed to help attendees "understand, track and analyze the price, demand, supply and competitive dynamics of local timber markets and wood baskets though the use of case studies," according to the Forisk website.
Read More
Heart of Louisiana: Red Cockaded Woodpecker
We turn off the highway and drive a couple of miles on a gravel road through the tall longleaf pines of Louisiana’s Kisatchie National Forest. This area in Vernon Parish is home to the once-endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. But now the small woodpecker is making a comeback. Thanks in part to the efforts of humans. Biologists have been tracking these woodpeckers for years, finding their nests dozens of feet above the ground in the trunks of tall pines. They raise a camera to peek inside.
Read More
Almosta Ranch Offering Camp that Teaches Kids how to Properly Care for Farm Animals
Almosta Ranch, a farm located in Calcasieu Parish, is just a thirty-minute drive from downtown Lake Charles, where kids ages five and up can experience life in the country.
Each day of the camp centers around a new animal and gives kids a full experience from going inside their pens, to feeding and, of course, petting them.
Read More
United Soybean Board Approves FY26 Budget to Strengthen Demand and Resilience of U.S. Soy
In the year ahead, the United Soybean Board (USB) will boost demand for U.S. Soy, drive on-farm resilience and bring value to the nearly half a million U.S. soybean farmers. Led by its 77 farmer-leaders, USB recently approved a $121.3 million budget for the 2026 fiscal year, strategically allocating funds across vital research, promotion and education investments. This spans the food, feed, fuel, industrial, exports and sustainable production market segments.
Read More
Growing Sugarcane in Coastal Louisiana Challenges Farmers in 2025
Farmer Clint Judice represents the seventh generation of his family to farm sugarcane in the heart of southern Louisiana. Challenging soils and proximity to the coast, along with this year’s blizzard bringing 10 inches of snow, make producing nature’s sweetest crop a challenge.
St. Mary Parish, where Judice farms around 4,000 acres of sugarcane, is one of Louisiana’s top sugar-producing parishes. In January, it also was home to the county’s southernmost blizzard warning.
Read More
Sivanto Prime Exemption Status - Sugarcane
The original Section 18 crisis exemption for Sivanto Prime in sugarcane for aphids/West Indian Cane Fly was set to expire July 18th. However shortly after, LDAF office of Pesticide Programs filed for a specific exemption to extend the use beyond July 18th.
Read More
Pesticide Application Equipment Survey
USDA’s Office of Pest Management Policy (OPMP) is requesting your participation in a survey on the use of targeted pesticide application equipment and the incentives and barriers to adoption. The questions in this survey are focused on growers' use of targeted spray technologies for chemical pesticides (for example, See&Spray™, Greeneye™, SmartSpray™ and others). Targeted pesticide application technology has the potential to control weeds and other agricultural pests while reducing the overall amount of pesticide used.
Read More
Louisiana Sugarcane Farmers Hopeful as Coca-Cola Considers Real Sugar Shift
An announcement from President Donald Trump has sparked excitement among sugarcane farmers and processors in South Louisiana. Coca-Cola is reportedly considering a switch from high fructose corn syrup to real cane sugar in its US-manufactured beverages.
President Trump stated that the Atlanta-based Coca-Cola, which has a facility in Lafayette, has agreed to this change. The potential shift is creating a buzz in the local sugar industry, as it could boost demand for cane sugar.
Read More
View From the Cab: Farmers Talk Crop Progress and Promoting Agriculture
Ethan Zoerb doesn't mind suiting up to head to Washington, D.C., if he can talk about his favorite subject: corn.
Zoerb serves on a NCGA action team that addresses how to best use checkoff dollars in communication and educational efforts. On the Hill, he met with legislators from Maine, Louisiana and Florida and felt the interactions were interesting and productive.
Read More
Well-attended Farm Bureau Convention Blends Policy, Family Fun and a Focus on the Future of Louisiana agriculture
More than 1,500 attendees gathered in New Orleans in late June for the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation’s 103rd annual convention, making it one of the best-attended sessions in the organization’s history. The event attracted a diverse crowd of farmers, ranchers, educators, policymakers and advocates from across the state, all united by a shared commitment to ensuring Louisiana agriculture has a viable future.
Read More
LSU AgCenter Field Day Covers Horticulture Innovations
From turfgrass to tea production and rain gardens to robotics, there was something for just about everyone at the LSU AgCenter’s annual horticulture field day July 18.
Cloudy skies and occasional mist provided a cool backdrop for the event at the Hammond Research Station, which is devoted to improving the horticulture industry through research and plant evaluations.
Read More
Louisiana Sugarcane Farmers Hopeful After Trump Claims Coca-Cola Will Switch To Real Sugar
Sugar cane farmers and agriculture experts from Louisiana say President Donald Trump’s recent announcement that Coca-Cola had agreed to switch from using artificial sweeteners to real cane sugar could be good news for the industry.
Patrick Frischertz is a farmer at St. Louis Planting, a sugar cane and soybean farm in Plaquemine. He is getting everything ready at the farm, which has been operated by the same family for eight generations, for the start of sugar cane planting season.
Read More
Seafood Labeling a Good Idea That's Gaining Steam
Louisiana’s seafood producers have long braved harsh conditions to bring their catches to our plates. Aside from the hazards of the job, they have also had to navigate increasingly challenging market conditions over the past two decades as cheap imports have flooded the U.S., pushing down prices. Since 2021, the U.S. shrimp industry has lost almost half of its market value, according to the Southern Shrimp Alliance.
Read More
Trump’s Bid to Add Cane Sugar to Coke Could Cost America Thousands of Agricultural Jobs, Trade Group Warns
U.S. corn producers are sounding the alarm on President Donald Trump’s efforts to switch Coca-Cola products away from using corn syrup in favor of cane sugar, claiming the change will wreak havoc on the agricultural industry.
Changes in demand for corn syrup, such as that used in Coke, would increase demand for cane sugar in Louisiana and Florida, as well as from Central and South America, where the sweetener is heavily tariffed.
Read More
Cost-Sharing Assistance Available to Landowners for Longleaf Pine Restoration and Management
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, along with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, the National Wild Turkey Federation, the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, conducted a Longleaf Pine Restoration and Management Landowner Field Day and Workshop June 27 at the Marsh Bayou WMA in Evangeline Parish.
Longleaf pine forests offer a number of ecological and economic benefits. Longleaf pine savannahs are among the most diverse ecosystems in the world, with well-maintained sites providing optimum habitat for turkeys, quail, deer and numerous other game and non-game species.
Read More
