• By Vicky Boyd, Editor • More than 1,500 farmers, community leaders and urbanites attending an Aug. 20 rally sent a passionate message to the California State Water Board about their disgust with its proposed unimpaired San Joaquin River flows. The event — organized by Assemblyman Adam Gray, D-Merced, and held on the steps of the state Capitol in Sacramento ... Read More »
The entire fight over what can and can’t be called rice has spilled over into a food that many in South Louisiana consider sacred — boudin. For those not familiar with boudin, it is a sausage made of meat, whether pork, liver or even crawfish, rice and spices. Some boudin also contains blood, kind of like a blood sausage. The ... Read More »
Arkansas producers have only to look to California to see what can happen if they don’t follow a voluntary smoke management program and get their open-field burning under control. “If we don’t make an active attempt to manage this issue, it will likely be managed for us,” says Jarrod Hardke, University of Arkansas Extension rice agronomist. The issue isn’t limited ... Read More »
It appears the Food and Drug Administration may begin enforcing a standard of identity that defines milk as a “lacteal secretion, practically free from colostrum, obtained by the complete milking of one or more healthy cows.” This would mean the plant-based beverages made from ingredients, such as almonds, soybeans, hemp and even rice, would have to change the term “milk” ... Read More »
Here we go again. The California State Water Resources Control Board has come out with an updated proposal for unimpaired flows on the San Joaquin River and its tributaries. Upon first glance, the most-recent rendition isn’t much changed since the board originally floated the proposal in November 2016. At the heart is leaving an average of 40 percent of water ... Read More »
“Necessity is the mother of invention,” so the proverb goes. Faced with tight budgets, the Louisiana State University AgCenter needed to take a hard look at Extension agents in its parishes and invent a more sustainable way to provide services to its clientele. “Our hope is to get to a level from a budget standpoint where we’re much more sustainable,” ... Read More »
I recently attended the Field to Vase Dinner held on the grounds of the California State Capitol in Sacramento. Not only was the event a feast for the senses, but it also allowed California’s cut flower industry to showcase its incredible array of flowers, sustainability and family run operations. As part of the dinner, attendees feasted on lamb produced just ... Read More »
I recently sat in on one day of the San Joaquin County Farm Bureau’s four-day Ag in the Classroom program. Now in its 32nd year, it is designed to educate the educators about the importance of ag in the county and of the job opportunities the industry can offer students down the line. Many of the participants, who grew up ... Read More »
When you think about it, crawfish are nature’s ultimate recyclers. Because of that, the red crustacean complements the rice industry’s already strong sustainability story. Sustainability is like a three-legged stool comprising economic, environmental and social benefits. If you’re missing even one of those, the stool falls over. Most of the crawfish grown in South Texas and Louisiana are part of ... Read More »
The California Department of Water Resources announced an initial 2016 water allocation of 10 percent for customers of the State Water Project. The allocation could be increased or decreased, depending on precipitation received this winter. The Department of Water Resources, which operates the project, will make monthly announcements about the supply situation. Read More »
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