Archive

This week, we celebrate harvest season with a new Field to Feast in the pumpkin patch, featuring a pumpkin, crawfish and corn bisque recipe that will have you in the mood for fall! TWILA’s Neil Melancon gives us an update on the start of sugarcane grinding season, and we tag along as American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall takes an agricultural tour of the Bayou State. Plus, we celebrate National Farm to School Month in the garden.

This week, we continue our coverage on Hurricane Ida recovery — from damages to an NRCS facility to timber in the Florida Parishes. We also look at how neighbors are lending a helping hand and how Farm Bureau is making connections and advocating for hurricane victims. We celebrate National 4-H Week, National Farm to School Month and the First Days of Harvest.

Today, This Week in Louisiana Agriculture turns 40, and we’re starting where it all began. TWILA’s Avery Davidson shows how it all started, and where we’re going. TWILA’s Neil Melancon recounts his 25 year career on TWILA. TWILA’s Karl Wiggers shows us the progress on one topic that has been near and dear to farmer’s hearts. We wrap up this celebration with a laugh from some of our not-so finest moments in this week’s TWILA Boost.

We’re continuing our coverage of Hurricane Ida, from produce to sugarcane. TWILA’s Neil Melancon shows us the damage in Lafourche Parish, and LSU AgCenter’s Craig Gautreaux explains the challenges sugarcane farmers now face. September 19-25, 2021 is National Farm Safety and Healthy Week, and we have everything you need to know. TWILA’s Karl Wiggers gives us an update for milo harvest in northwest Louisiana, and we show you how to assemble the ultimate charcuterie board in this week’s Field to Feast. We wrap up the show celebrating National Rice Month in this week’s TWILA Boost, powered by Entergy Solutions.

This week, our focus remains right where it should: the aftermath of Hurricane Ida. Many remain without electricity, as linemen from across the country converge in Louisiana to get the power grid back up and running. While farmers and ranchers are good at taking care of themselves and each other, they also depend upon infrastructure, like the power grid, to stay in business.

Hurricane Ida made landfall at Port Fourchon, LA on Sunday, August 29th, exactly 16 years after Hurricane Katrina hit the state. Ida is tied as the strongest storm to ever come ashore in Louisiana with maximum sustained winds of 150 miles an hour, the same wind speed as last year’s Hurricane Laura. Hurricane Ida ripped through south Louisiana with devastating winds, nearly two feet of rain east of her eye-wall and a storm surge of more than 9 feet. The massive power outages and damage to infrastructure has halted barge traffic and brought agricultural trade to a standstill along the Mississippi River. This week, the TWILA team takes us to some of the hardest hit areas where residents, farmers and ranchers are picking up the pieces after the storm.

We kick off the show with a hot topic in Washington — Infrastructure. TWILA’s Avery Davidson show us how the infrastructure bill that passed the Senate could help Louisiana, but it’s at a cost. TWILA’s Tammi Arender takes us to northeastern Louisiana, where we meet third-generation pilots who help farmers grow their crops. TWILA’s Neil Melancon takes us to Lake Charles to revisit Brandon and Danielle Vail, who are still recovering from damages from Hurricanes Laura and Delta in 2020. Rice harvest is in full swinging, and TWILA’s Karl Wiggers has some farm and road safety tips for this year’s harvest season. LSU AgCenter’s Craig Gautreaux gives us a sneak peak at sugarcane research at the LSU AgCenter, and our friends at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum gives us a taste of their Red Beans and Rice exhibit. We wrap up the show with a cold beer from Parish Brewing Company, as we dig into our archives for this week’s TWILA Boost.

To start this week’s show off, we take you to Vermilion Parish, where TWILA’s Karl Wiggers show us Young Farmers & Ranchers educating the next generation of agriculture. LSU AgCenter’s Craig Gautreaux takes us to central Louisiana, were fields are finally drying up after a wet spring. TWILA’s Neil Melancon shows us why prices are going up at the grocery stores, and our friend at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum shows us how a tasty cocktail can be both hot and cold! TWILA’s Jennifer Finley takes us to Oil City for this week’s Field to Feast, where to meet Marty Wooldridge — a cattleman with a passion for agriculture and a great recipe for his grilled New York Strips, fresh off the farm! TWILA’s 40th Anniversary is coming up, and we dig up a blast from the past from our This Week in Your Town in this Week’s TWILA Boost.

This week, TWILA’s Jennifer Finley takes us to Commander’s Palace in New Orleans to meet their trailblazing executive chef. Speaking of trailblazing women, we introduce you to LSU AgCenter’s Ashley Edwards in this edition of the LSU AgCenter Faculty Spotlight. TWILA’s Neil Melancon show us an invasion of army worms in Franklin Parish, and the damage they’re causing in fields. TWILA’s Karl Wiggers catches up with Dustin Morris to get a preview fo this year’s corn harvest. Our friends at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum have a cool treat for us in the middle of this heat wave, and we pull from the TWILA Archive in this week’s TWILA Boost. Remember out TWILA Reporting for Duty series?? In this edition, TWILA’s Kristen Oaks returns home to work on her father’s poultry farm for the day.

We kick off the show in north Louisiana, where TWILA’s Neil Melancon introduces us to a farmer whose love for the soil brings soul to her community. Leave it to TWILA’s Avery Davidson to find a beer that’s dog gone good, and a cattleman whose cattle can agree. TWILA’s Karl Wiggers takes us to Louisiana Tech Meat Lab, where students are getting hands on training to learn about processing livestock. It’s blueberry season, and TWILA’s Jennifer Finley take us to Ponchatoula to see blueberry harvest, and where you can pick up some fresh blueberries. We have highlight a southern gem in this week’s Ag Minute, and TWILA’s Jennifer Finley takes us to Doc’s Bee Hives, where his bees are living large. We wrap up the show with Farmer Derek buttering his cattle in this week’s TWILA Boost.