Over the last two years, administrative actions and the 2025 Farm Bill have raised to 80% the federal premium subsidy rate for area insurance added on top of individual farm insurance (see Farmdoc Daily, Dec. 10, 2025). Farmers responded. For the crops that USDA reports a cost of production (barley, corn, cotton, oats, peanuts, rice, sorghum, soybeans, wheat), all acres insured in all area add-on insurance products increased by 146 million acres between the 2024 and 2026 crop years.
Read MoreNo sales tax will be applied to firearms, ammunition and a range of hunting supplies purchases over the Labor Day weekend, the Louisiana Department of Revenue announced Thursday.
The sales tax exemption runs from Friday, Sep. 4, through Sunday, Sep. 6, which the state calls the "Louisiana 2nd Amendment Weekend Sales Tax Holiday."
Read MoreUnited States soybean farmers have a free, straightforward way to prove the quality of their crop to the world. Through the Annual Soybean Quality Survey, funded by the Soy CheckoffSM, farmers can send in a sample from their 2026 harvest at no cost and receive a personalized report on its quality. Samples are due Oct. 21, 2026, and the effort helps position U.S. soy as the premium choice for customers around the globe.
Read MoreIn Louisiana, a few topics are almost guaranteed to spark a food debate. Put rice dressing or dirty rice on the table, and you've got one.
Read MoreThe President’s plan to facilitate record imports of beef will have a significant impact on farmers and ranchers who are rebuilding their herds devastated by drought. American Farm Bureau Federation economists analyzed the potential consequences of increased imports in the latest Farm Bureau Intel. Also today, Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall sent a letter to President Trump urging him to reconsider his plan to flood the market with foreign beef.
Read MoreAs Canada and the United States continue their tariff war, Canada’s latest update on which goods will face additional tariffs could have a significant impact.
The Canadian finance minister says the counter-tariffs will target products including dairy, agricultural equipment and paper, which are all part of industries that play a major role in northern Louisiana. With northern Louisiana’s economy relying heavily on agriculture and logging, ULM economics professor Tammy Johnston says those industries could feel the impact.
Read MoreAnyone who has seen an old Western movie knows that every cattle drive was accompanied by a chuck wagon driven by a crusty old cook who fixed the beans and coffee and dared anyone to criticize him. Those wagons also accompanied long overland drives when south Louisiana cattle were herded to market in New Orleans, but some of our drives were a little bit different. They used chuck boats instead of chuck wagons.
Read MoreBlue Point One, a joint venture between CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CF), the world’s largest producer of ammonia; JERA Co., Inc. (JERA), Japan’s largest energy company; and Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (Mitsui), a leading global investment and trading company, today broke ground in Modeste, Louisiana, on a low-carbon ammonia plant that can serve both traditional agricultural customers and emerging energy applications. The plant is expected to be the world’s largest ammonia plant upon completion, with a production capacity of 1.4 million metric tons per year.
Read MoreWeightlifting, sports and crochet may not have much to do with agriculture by themselves, but at the AgReimagined Symposium, they were crucial to educating attendees on agricultural research and techniques.
On Aug. 10, three student workers and two assistant professors with the LSU AgCenter presented their ideas for new ways to explain and teach agricultural concepts in relatable ways. The event was hosted at the AgCenter Tom H. Scott Research, Extension and Education Center in Winnsboro.
Read MoreA greenhouse can be an uncomfortable place to spend a Louisiana summer, but for Lawrence Harrison it was an ideal spot to gain hands-on experience for his future career.
Harrison, a biology major at LSU Shreveport, worked as a horticulture intern at the LSU AgCenter Red River Research Station. His internship was part of the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service (LCES) Internship Program.
Read MoreOn a recent Friday at the LSU AgCenter Hammond Research Station, an aroma reminiscent of freshly cut grass filled a meeting room. Participants in a workshop on tea production had returned from a field outside where they’d plucked tender leaves earlier in the morning and were now learning the art of transforming them into tea.
Read MoreCHS, America’s leading farmer-owned cooperative, and OCP North America, a subsidiary of the OCP Group, are taking a major step to strengthen domestic fertilizer production in the United States. Through a proposed joint venture, the two companies are preparing to build and operate a phosphate fertilizer production facility at the Cornerstone Energy Park located in Waggaman, Louisiana. The new plant is expected to produce over 1 million metric tonnes of phosphate-based fertilizer annually and would be the first of its kind constructed in the United States since 1984.
Read MoreGovernor Jeff Landry and SpaceX are announced plans on Tuesday in Abbeville to build what the company says will be the world’s largest spaceport on Louisiana’s coast.
The proposed $100 billion launch facility would be located in Vermilion Parish and have the capacity to support thousands of rocket launches each year.
Read MoreOver the past decade, the feral swine population has continued to grow across various regions of the United States, and with that comes an increase in damage.
“Their ability to root, trample, destroy natural environment and crops in native species makes them really problematic across the United States where they have successfully invaded an established population,” says Dana Cole, coordinator of the National Feral Swine Damage Management Program for the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
Read MoreIn the sugarcane fields where the fertile soil meets the steel skyline of industry, Frankie and Mallory Sotile are holding on to a crop and a way of life.
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