Agriculture
Fertilizer company calls off plans for Jefferson Parish plant
A Texas fertilizer company announced Tuesday it has halted its plans to build an ammonia plant in Jefferson Parish. The decision came one day before local officials were going to vote on the company’s request for a multi-million dollar tax break that would have helped subsidize the project. APF River Partners, the local entity for […]
This land is our land: States crack down on foreign-owned farm fields
Andy Gipson gets concerned even when American allies such as the Netherlands and Germany invest in large swaths of Mississippi’s farmland. “It just bothers me at a gut level,” he said. For Gipson, Mississippi’s commissioner of agriculture and commerce, the growing trend of foreign ownership could threaten what he views as the state’s most valuable […]
Proposed grain terminal would harm historic slave sites in St. John Parish, review finds
A proposed grain terminal would harm the setting, characteristics and economies of three historic Mississippi River plantations and a cemetery in the nearly all-Black community of Wallace in St. John the Baptist Parish, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has determined. The findings are part of an environmental review the Corps conducted on the proposed […]
Louisiana modifies statewide burn ban as fires near total containment
Louisiana will modify its statewide burn ban, in effect since late August, to allow each parish to set its own guidelines. Recent rain and the work of firefighters has lowered the risk of additional blazes in the state’s most prone areas. Starting at 5 p.m. Friday, each parish can choose to opt out of the […]
‘It’s an emergency.’ Midwest towns scramble as drought threatens drinking water.
SEDAN, Kansas — James Rainbolt typically can tackle most problems at his rural water plant with some extra time or money. But he can’t fix this. “I just can’t make it rain,” he said. Like others across Southeast Kansas, Rainbolt remains helpless as he watches a persistent drought dry up the local water supply. He […]
White House: Louisiana has shortchanged Southern $1.12 billion over 30 years
States have engaged in decades of underfunding of land-grant Historically Black Colleges and Universities, leading to a more than $12 billion disparity with comparable white institutions, leaders of the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Monday. “Unacceptable funding inequities have forced many of our nation’s distinguished Historically Black Colleges and […]
Louisiana, like other Southern states, relies on outside airborne help to fight wildfires
Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain said last week he will ask the legislature for money to buy more firefighting equipment, including a tanker airplane that can drop water on blazes from above. Such an asset would make Louisiana unique among its Southern neighbors and comparably sized states, which rely entirely on outside help for their airborne […]
Was that chicken cutlet grown in a lab? These states want you to know.
Select U.S. restaurants have begun serving laboratory-grown chicken, spurring long wait times for reservations by diners curious to taste it. In June, the U.S. Department of Agriculture gave final approval for a few California-based companies to begin selling lab-produced chicken across the country. While it may be years before lab-grown meat is available at grocery […]
Rain does little to lessen Louisiana wildfire risk
Intense downpours brought relief from high temperatures Monday to some parts of Louisiana, but officials say it did little to reduce the threat of wildfires that have now claimed more than 60,000 acres across the state. With more extreme heat and minimal rain in the forecast, crews combatting the blazes anticipate the risk to persist, […]
Farm bill timeline in flux as a messy September for Congress nears
WASHINGTON — The roundtables, listening sessions and appearances at farm shows have largely wrapped up and lawmakers tasked with reauthorizing the nation’s agriculture and nutrition programs are comparing notes and beginning to draft the massive, multi-year farm bill. The 2018 version expires Sept. 30, just as many urgent priorities compete for floor time in Congress […]
‘An endless amount of pigs:’ The feral hog epidemic continues
There are more feral hogs in Louisiana than there are people in Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Shreveport combined. That’s over 900,000 pigs, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries estimates. You may think living in the suburbs or a city guards you from what researchers call the “pigdemic,” but you’d be wrong. “The hogs […]
Proposed ‘green methanol’ plant in Pineville would cut local trees for wood biomass
A Houston energy company is considering building a $1.8 billion methanol production facility in Rapides Parish that would harvest local trees to create biomass energy. SunGas Renewables wants to manufacture 400,000 tons of methanol each year through biomass gasification at Beaver Lake Renewable Energy, the site of the former International Paper facility in Pineville, according […]