This summer the Southern University Ag Center will host a Hip Hop to Gen Z Camp, focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) for 6th – 12th grade students.
The camp will be held June 3-14, from 8 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. in Hayden Hall on the Southern University campus.
Cleveland Bay is the oldest established breed of English Horses. Sandra Marx, a horsemanship teacher at Cove Equestrian Center, owns Melvin, 1 of only 200 Cleveland Bays in North America. Marx says Melvin was a gift to her from her friend Laura.
“Laura was looking for a good forever home for him, and I needed good school horses," Marx said. "I got on him, rode him for the first time and took him home.”
More than 5,000 people filled the streets of downtown Wisner for the Fourth Annual South Franklin Catfish Festival.
“It was a great day,” Chairman Elliot Britt said. “I think it was the best festival we’ve had so far. We were worried about potential bad weather all week, but Saturday could not have been better. A huge thank you to the best committee anyone could ask for. Countless hours and planning goes into this event and we couldn’t do it without the support of a large group of volunteers. It really makes you feel good about our small town.”
The 66th annual Deep South PRCA Rodeo will be held May 16 through May 18 starting at 8 p.m. nightly in Winnsboro.
The kid’s rodeo will be May 11 at 2 p.m. and the annual rodeo parade will be May 18 at 3 p.m. Both weekends are full of “family, friendly entertainment” with everyone invited to attend, according to Buckshot Sims, rodeo director.
For the first time since 1803, more than 1 trillion cicadas from two major broods will emerge from underground dormancy in mid-May and collectively create a loud, high-pitched buzz that will assault your ears for weeks.
The rare overlap in emergence – when cicadas arise from underground – is caused by two specific sets of cicadas. The largest, known as Brood XIX, appears every 13 years. Brood XIII emerges every 17 years.
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) is reminding the public and seafood distributors that importing and possessing live red swamp crayfish also known as crawfish or Louisiana crawfish, is prohibited by law in Illinois.
The crustaceans are a popular choice for live crawfish boils.
Picture this: while folks in the Big Easy are chillin' without a care in the world, sippin' their daiquiris, and enjoying the jazz, up in northwest Louisiana, it's gonna be a whole different story. Get for the invasion of the Cicadas!
Caddo Parish is about to be swarmed by these buzzing critters like it's going out of style. So, if you're planning a picnic or an outdoor shindig, you might wanna think twice unless you're cool with sharing your space with a few thousand extra guests. It's like the cicadas decided to throw their own party, and Caddo Parish is the VIP section.
The invasive Apple Snail was recently found in a live crawfish shipment coming from Louisiana to Arkansas. Experts say while there may not be an immediate concern for rice farmers currently, land owners and crawfish enthusiasts alike should be aware of the snails and alert Arkansas Game and Fish if they spot any of the invasive species.
The last week in April three of your Executive Committee members, Mike Kovac, Dave Sanson and myself, made a trip to West Texas. We visited a Red Angus Ranch in Whitesboro, TX and the Bradley 3 Ranch near Childress, TX. Both ranches gave us contact information as well as insight into different operations and how they manage their cattle operations. James Henderson, one of the 3 in B3R, shared his wisdom of his cattle operation and 18 years of running their processing plant.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) strongly encourages eligible conservation partners to submit proposals for $10 million in available funds to research the Conservation Reserve Program’s (CRP) environmental benefits and outcomes. CRP is one of the world’s largest voluntary conservation programs with an established track record of preserving topsoil, sequestering carbon, reducing nitrogen runoff and providing healthy wildlife habitat.
Funding this research with partners outside of USDA will enable USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) — the agency responsible for administering CRP — to best focus the program’s future functionality and goals based on the collective research results.
LSUA has announced an exciting new partnership with the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine aimed at advancing expertise in rural and agricultural veterinary practices. This new agreement introduces an early admission pathway for LSUA graduates aiming to specialize in rural, agricultural or livestock medicine.
The initiative is designed to cultivate a dedicated pipeline of veterinarians through enhanced early educational experiences, aimed particularly at supporting the food animal and production medicine sectors. Up to ten LSUA graduates per year will have the opportunity to gain early admission to the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, provided they meet the specific eligibility criteria focused on rural and agricultural commitment.
It looks like a wild Thursday evening for some, with not much at all in other spots. There’s a solid threat for severe weather in communities like Stonewall, Jonesboro, and Wisner, while you might not see a drop of rain in Abbeville, Thibodaux, and Galliano.
This doesn’t look like a huge rain maker. I think there will be a corridor of 1-2 inches across northern and parts of central Louisiana, with lesser totals to the south, ranging all the way down to nothing much south of I-10.
According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service in Louisiana, there were 3.2 days suitable for fieldwork for the week ending Sunday, May 5, 2024. Topsoil moisture supplies were 0 percent very short, 6 percent short, 63 percent adequate, and 31 percent surplus. Subsoil moisture supplies were 0 percent very short, 6 percent short, 74 percent adequate, and 20 percent surplus.
Research efforts across all aspects of hemp production are currently needed to aid in the successful reestablishment and long-term success of this crop in the U.S. A 2020 survey of licensed U.S. hemp farmers determined one of the most challenging aspects of production was the lack of information on the efficacy of currently labeled hemp insecticides.
Caroline Hardy has joined the USA Rice team as a government affairs intern and will be working out of the Arlington office until she begins a law clerkship in Louisiana later this summer.
A Louisiana native, Caroline earned her B.S. from McNeese State University in agribusiness in 2021 and is entering her final year at the Louisiana State University (LSU) Paul M. Hebert Law Center.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking nominations for four positions on the Federal Advisory Committee for Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production. USDA will accept nominations from May 7, 2024, to July 7, 2024. The 12-member Committee, which first convened in March 2022, is part of USDA’s efforts to increase support for urban agriculture and innovative production. Members of the Committee provide input on policy development and help identify barriers to urban agriculture as USDA works to promote urban farming and the economic opportunities it provides in cities across the country.
The winning horse at Saturday’s Kentucky Derby has Louisiana’s fingerprints all over it. Mystik Dan won by a nose, edging out Sierra Leone and Forever Young. Lafayette native Brian Hernandez was the jockey and Shreveport native Sharilyn Gasaway is a co-owner.
“It’s absolutely unbelievable and a dream of a lifetime for us, we are just grateful and blessed to own this horse,” Gasaway said.
Fundamentals drove cotton prices down to the mid-70s before selling ran out of steam and a small bit of demand brought prices back to the high 70s for old crop and the mid-70s for new crop. July found its support at 77 cents but slipped lower before recapturing the 78-cent mark, settling the week at 78.06. Likewise, December searched out its support at the 74-cent mark and settled the week at 75.97
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced approximately $22.3 million available to community-based and nonprofit organizations, institutions of higher education, and Tribal entities that help underserved and veteran farmers and ranchers own and operate successful farms. Funding is made through USDA’s 2501 Program. This program is administered by USDA’s Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement (OPPE).
Horizon Ag is pleased to announce the hiring of Dr. María Guadalupe Montiel for the newly created position of Rice Breeder for the company’s independent lab located at the Louisiana State University (LSU) AgCenter Rice Research Station at Crowley.
The position was created as part of a recent partnership between Horizon Ag and the LSU AgCenter to support enhanced collaborative breeding efforts. In her new role, Dr. Montiel will have access to the AgCenter’s elite rice-breeding germplasm, and any new varieties released by Horizon Ag will be in addition to the AgCenter’s breeding activities.
The Rayne Frog Festival is taking place in the Frog Capital this weekend, May 9-11, 2024, at the Frog Festival Pavilion.
This year's festival will be the 52nd year of celebrating all that is those hopping and tasty little swamp critters.
As always there is a full schedule of music, delicious food and drinks, arts and crafts show, carnival rides, kick-off parade, frog derby, frog races, frog leg sauce piquant eating contest, and a whole lot more.
Any Louisiana seafood lover will agree— the 2024 crawfish season has been far from normal.
As farmers battled with drought and saltwater intrusion in the fall, mudbug prices have stayed higher than average for most of the season, and the yield for many in the seafood industry has been significantly smaller.
In a kitchen normally used to prepare meals for hungry 4-H campers, participants in a different type of camp looked on with interest and anticipation as LSU AgCenter nutrition and community health agent Breanna Staab stirred a saucepan containing a bubbling blend of pureed bell and serrano peppers, sugar and vinegar.
Staab was guiding the adult campers through the process of making and canning pepper jelly as part of an April 30 food preservation camp at the Grant Walker 4-H Educational Center in Pollock.
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