U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Louisiana State Director Troy Romero announced the agency is awarding a $74,975 grant to South Central Planning and Development Commission (SCP&DC) to provide technical assistance to strengthen the sugarcane bagasse economy.
Read MoreThe Louisiana Agriculture Hall of Distinction is now accepting nominations for its annual induction ceremony, which will be held March 18, 2027, in Baton Rouge.
The nomination form can be obtained online at www.louisianaagriculturehallofdistinction.com or through any parish LSU AgCenter office. The deadline for receiving nominations is Nov. 20.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced an investment of $5 million in partnerships to help agricultural producers and private landowners restore and steward wetlands and floodplains through conservation easements. These projects, funded by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), deliver Farmers First, direct-to-producer benefits while improving water quality, reducing flooding risks and providing habitat for wildlife.
Read MoreMore than one million acres of wetlands and bottomland hardwood forests have now been restored through the Wetland Reserve Easement (WRE) program across the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (LMAV), which stretches from Missouri to Louisiana. Of the 6 states included in the LMAV, Louisiana makes up more than a third of the one-million-acre milestone with 368,265 acres enrolled in WRE.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced sugar loan rates and marketing provisions for fiscal year 2027, along with reallocations for fiscal year 2026. USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation provides loans to sugar beet and sugarcane processors, allowing sugar to be stored after harvest and marketed later when prices improve.
Read MoreSome festivals feel borrowed from somewhere else. This one could only belong to cattle country, where show rings, parade routes, contests, and live music fold into one local weekend.
The atmosphere is cheerful without feeling polished, and that is exactly what gives the celebration its charm.
Read MoreDiesel is used throughout agricultural production, powering tractors, combines, irrigation equipment and the trucks that move crops, livestock and farm inputs. With diesel prices rising sharply in recent weeks, fuel costs have become an even larger concern during one of the most fuel-intensive periods of the year.
A recent Farm Bureau analysis detailed the global supply disruptions and tight fuel markets behind the increase in diesel prices. For farmers, the effects show up directly in the cost of operating equipment and indirectly through higher transportation costs.
Read MoreAs farmers and ranchers face record-high diesel costs, American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall called on the president to take several steps to lower prices at the pump, including a temporary suspension of the federal highway diesel tax.
Read MoreOn a Monday morning at a sugarcane farm in Port Allen, LSU AgCenter entomologist Blake Wilson and two student workers pushed through green and yellow cane stalks on a field’s border and into the interior rows. There, they found plants that were completely brown.
This farm, and many others throughout the state, has been infested with the pasture mealybug, an invasive species first identified by Louisiana crop consultants last year.
Read MoreThe Louisiana sugarcane industry is on track for another record season, but growers are still watching a pest that has become a major concern across the region.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and Gov. Jeff Landry toured the Louisiana Sugar Cane Cooperative in St. Martinville Friday (Sept. 25) as part of a closer look at the state’s sugarcane industry and the challenges facing growers.
Read MoreThe sweet smell of sugarcane fills the air along Bayou Lafourche as the harvest begins in south Louisiana. But for growers, their biggest harvest-time expense, diesel, has hit a record high.
Diesel is hovering around $6.50 per gallon, up about $3 from this time last year.
On the Naquin family farm near Thibodaux, a combine cut the first cane of a three-month harvest on Tuesday, and Craig Naquin said the family is getting slammed by the cost.
Read MoreIndustry experts are projecting supply uncertainty for the beet and cane sugar crops for fiscal year 2026-27. The primary contributing factors to this uncertainty include drought-related reductions in sugarbeet planted acreage, relatively low sugar prices, high input costs and uncertainty about sugar demand, potentially stemming from the growing popularity of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs.
Read MoreTechnically, the calendar says it's Fall, although Louisiana weather kind of does what it wants. It's OK, we're used to 90 degree temperatures during the Fall Season, and we still have our awesome pumpkin patches anyway.
Speaking of, it got us thinking...what is the biggest pumpkin patch in the entire state of Louisiana?
Read MoreIn Raceland, Haven Flower Farm welcomes the hopefully cooler weather of fall with a pumpkin patch, Vermont apple cider, locally made kettle corn and photo opportunities that may rival the fall aesthetics of your favorite feel-good fall show, including the famous fall aesthetics of “Gilmore Girls.”
While the fall-themed festivities are already underway, the farm’s goals and history tell a story much deeper than just one season.
Read MoreThis Saturday, a special Black-bellied whistling duck season begins. It will run through October 11th. Wildlife and Fisheries Assistant Secretary Tommy Tuma says Louisiana is the first state to have a black bellied whistling duck season, and it’s because there is an overabundance of them.
“We’ve seen expansion of their population and range into south Louisiana, to the point where there are a lot of them early in the season,” Tuma said.
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