As the Southeast District Livestock Show marks its 91st year on Feb. 5-7 at the St. Tammany Parish Fairgrounds in Covington, two youth exhibitors have been selected to reign as the 2026 king and queen. This year’s royalty, Aiden Franatovich of St. Tammany Parish and Kamryn Hudspeth of Livingston Parish, bring years of livestock experience and service to their roles.
Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation hosted its inaugural joint leadership conference, Rooted in Leadership, January 23–24 in Baton Rouge, bringing together parish board members and leaders from the Women’s Leadership and Young Farmers & Ranchers committees from across the state. Despite Winter Storm Fern preventing some north Louisiana registrants from traveling, 130 attendees gathered for two days of learning, networking and leadership development.
Northern parishes had a welcomed warm-up today, delivering a big “melt” across much of the region.
Temperatures will drop below freezing again tonight (Wednesday evening into Thursday morning) for just about the entire state. Thursday (29 Jan 2026) morning lows along the I-20 will dip into the mid 20°s with temps at/below freezing for 8 to 12 hours across the northern parishes. However, north Louisiana temps on Thursday afternoon will get into the 50°s and that should just about finish any lingering roadway snow and ice except where plows and shovels have created piles.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins issued the following statement applauding President Donald J. Trump’s support for the nationwide year-round sale of E-15.
It's been a cold few days in south Louisiana, with winter temperatures coming to the region as crawfish farmers begin to harvest their fields.
The Southern University Ag Center will host its 83rd Annual State Livestock and Poultry Show from Feb. 26 – 28, 2026, at the Maurice A. Edmond Livestock Arena. In preparation for the show, the Livestock Show Office is now accepting pre-orders of non-processed choice meats from various livestock. All proceeds from the meat sales go directly to the participating youth as a reward for their hard work and financial investment.
Today, Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Luke Lindberg announced USDA intends to enter into an agreement with the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to deliver up to $452 million in fiscal year (FY) 2025 Food for Peace assistance. The funding will help U.S. producers move American-grown food to people in need around the world, sending nearly 211,000 tons of U.S. agricultural goods to people in need in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, Kenya, and Rwanda.
Growing up in scenic upstate New York, Todd Johnson thought he wanted to write for a living, finding inspiration in nature.
The forecast for the remainder of the week keeps temperatures across Louisiana well-below normal with freezes likely each morning for a majority of northern parishes. However, afternoon temperatures are expected to get above freezing ... and sunshine for the next few days should encourage steady ice melt.
Southeast Louisiana is just a few weeks away from peak crawfish season, and cold temperatures are slowing down supply and could drive up prices. Crawfish needs warm water to grow and when temperatures drop, they burrow into the ground, becoming harder to catch.
Winter Storm Fern will go down in the record books with a large swath of the U.S. and farm country blanketed with a foot or more of snow, ice and record-breaking cold.
Agriculture is at the mercy of the weather gods. And even though it’s winter — between harvest and planting season — for a lot of crops in the south, the record cold and ice still left a mark on some of the local agricultural sectors.
Today, the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol announced the appointment of Marjory Walker and Liz Hershfield as Co-Directors, serving on the Executive Leadership Team. Together, they will accelerate the program’s growth by advancing market adoption, developing new market-driven offerings, and fostering greater collaboration across the entire cotton value chain.
On a cloudy day in Leesville a group of 16 ropers crowded around Matt Sherwood, a two-time world champion of roping. Sherwood spoke to the group, made up of children, men and women from 10 to 70 years old, about the dedication needed to succeed in roping.
Since January 20, 2025, President Donald J. Trump has been working around the clock to put American Farmers First after inheriting one of the toughest farm economies our country has faced in decades. Here in Louisiana, farmers and ranchers know the challenges firsthand – rising input costs, volatile markets, extreme weather, and years of policies that prioritize bureaucracy over producers.
The West Carroll Parish Ag Expo took place at the Lingo Center in Oak Grove, celebrating rural life and agricultural innovation. Organized by the West Carroll Parish Tourism Commission, the event focused on providing support for farmers facing challenging times.
Deputy Agriculture Secretary Stephen Vaden (last week) accused Nutrien and Mosaic of working to ‘collude’ to limit U.S. fertilizer supply and control prices, suggesting that the administration could take future action to inject more competition into markets, if necessary.
A rare and relentless winter storm left north Louisiana reeling this weekend, as hours of frozen precipitation placed extraordinary stress on farm infrastructure across the region. Poultry houses, barns and sheds were among the structures reported collapsed under the sheer weight of accumulated sleet and ice — damage that farmers say is the worst to hit since Winter Storm Uri in 2021.
A historic winter storm that swept across much of the United States this weekend is causing widespread disruption to agriculture, with ice, snow, and bitter cold resulting in barn collapses, power outages, livestock evacuations, and mounting economic losses expected to exceed $100 billion.
More than 120,000 people are without power because of the deadly ice storm. Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell, who represents all of North Louisiana, says Monroe is the hardest hit area of the state as more than 45,000 customers in the parish do not have electricity. Campbell says the buildup of ice on tree limbs has led to many of the outages.
Has your agricultural operation been impacted by a winter storm? USDA is here to help you prepare for and recover from blizzards, freeze, frost and other cold weather events.
Conditions slowly improving across the state ... almost all of south Louisiana is ice-free.
After a bitterly cold start to Monday, most of the southern half of the state should get above freezing during the day, albeit just barely.
Jeff Landry declared a statewide state of emergency Thursday as Louisiana braces for a potentially dangerous winter weather event expected to bring ice, snow and days of freezing temperatures, particularly across the northern half of the state.
The federal government has been approved to assist Louisiana with Winter Storm Fern.
President Donald Trump approved the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assist all 64 parishes with disaster relief resulting from the storm Jan.23.
Listen to the latest markets and headlines in Louisiana Agriculture on The Voice of Louisiana Agriculture Radio Network.