This Week in Louisiana Agriculture
Bringing Louisiana Farmers & Consumers Together Every Week for 40 Years.
Connecting Consumers and Louisiana Agriculture
This Week in Louisiana Agriculture, the creation of former Louisiana Farm Bureau Public Relations Director and TWILA Host Regnal Wallace, is seen on 18 broadcast and cable stations across Louisiana and nationally on RFD-TV. TWILA is one of the longest-running television programs produced in Louisiana.
Each week co-hosts Avery Davidson and Kristen Oaks-White, along with TWILA's team of producers and reporters Neil Melancon, Karl Wiggers and Allie Shipley travel the state telling farmers' stories.
Over the years the show’s content has moved beyond just row crop production to include environmental, legislative and consumer issues. The program was cited by a member of the state’s Senate Ag Committee as a “video lesson on the importance of agriculture.”
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Spring is in the air! In this week’s episode, Neil Melancon takes us to a farm in Beauregard Parish to explain why Louisiana may see much less corn than usual this year. TWILA’s Karl Wiggers brings us along for the 2024 Louisiana Farm Bureau Livestock Advisory Committee Beef Tour where a visit to the University of Florida was a key part of the trip. Kristen Oaks-white also brings us a brand-new Feasting on Agriculture!
This week's episode of TWILA starts with farmers in the Capitol and ends with a two-faced calf in south Louisiana, and there is a lot of stuff in-between. Josh Meeks shows us how eight young farmers and ranchers’ recent trip to Washington D.C. went. Karl Wiggers is in Florida for the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation’s Beef Tour. Keely Ana Strickland takes us to Melville to show us how Louisiana Farm Bureau is making safety a priority with their annual grain bin safety workshops. Neil Melancon is at Istrouma Eatery and Brewery in St. Gabriel where you can grab a bite to eat while seeing where its raised. Plus, a one in 400-million TWILA Boost and new segment called, Farmer’s Forecast!
The TWILA Team is all over the state and country in this week’s episode! Josh Meeks is in Washington D.C. with Louisiana Farm Bureau’s Young Farmers & Ranchers. Keely Ana Strickland takes us to the Mid-South Agricultural Labor Seminar in Port Allen, Louisiana. Karl Wiggers takes us to St. Francisville, Louisiana where a landowner is planting trees on his slice of paradise. Neil Melancon tells us about the tough planting decisions farmers are facing this year. Avery Davidson visits with Dr. Bobby Soileau about the importance of the LSU AG Leadership Program. Plus, a TWILA Boost from Queen Bee!
Crawfish is always hot topic in Louisiana this time of the year, but the conversation looks a little different this year. In this week's show, Josh Meeks takes us to a couple of crawfish farms in Southwest Louisiana to shows us the struggles farmers facing. Neil Melancon takes us to Bayou Sarah Farms, where they are raising water buffalo. Karl Wiggers traveled down to the Red Stick Farmers Market to check out what's in season now, and what's on the way. And Kristen Oaks-White takes us out to Four Oaks Crawfish Farm in Morganza, Louisiana to show us a recipe that can help scratch that itch even with fewer crawfish.
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Usually when we talk about disasters in Louisiana this time of the year it is a hurricane. However, it's the extreme heat and drought wearing on Louisiana farmers. This week we learn how lack of rain and high temperatures are impacting grain crops, sugarcane, timber and cattle in every corner of the state and how farmers can make their voices heard. Plus, we get an update on the upcoming Farm Bill.
This week we take you to the streets of downtown Baton Rouge, the forests of Vernon Parish, and a lot of places in between.
Karl Wiggers shows us how the triple digit temperatures are impacting Louisiana’s beef industry. Trevor Williams takes us to the Red Stick Farmers Market where farmers are bringing their bounty to community tables. Neil Melancon tells us about an archaeological discovery in the forests of Vernon Parish. Plus, we get a behind-the-scenes look at the 2023 Louisiana Harvest.
In this special episode of Louisiana Farm Life, TWILA’s Avery Davidson sits down with third generation farmer and American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall and his new bride Jennifer. Zippy tells us about his upbringing family’s dairy farm, and how a conversation with his father grew into a life-long passion for Farm Bureau. They also talk about how Jennifer and Zippy connected after losing their first loves, and the importance of mental health in agriculture.
In this episode, Karl Wiggers sits down with his father, Scott Wiggers. They discuss how Scott was raised on a farm and why he wanted to come back to raise his own family in that same environment. They also discuss how he got involved in Louisiana Farm Bureau, the friends he's made along the way, and how important his wife, Karla, has been to his success on the farm, at home, and in Farm Bureau.
It’s finally crawfish season! It’s a time Louisianans start anticipating the moment they take their last bite of crawfish the previous season. But this year there’s a caveat: crawfish is in short supply, and if you are lucky enough to find a sack, the prices are through the roof.
For this month’s “Feasting on Agriculture” segment, we traveled back to Four Oaks Crawfish Farm in Morganza to visit the Frey family and find out why crawfish farmers across the state are facing such an unprecedented situation.
The holidays are a time when many families not only gather around the dinner table but also in the kitchen to prepare meals together. Some of my fondest memories revolve around the kitchen, learning and helping my Mom prepare dishes for our family celebrations.
In this month’s Feasting on Agriculture, we travel to Three Twelve Beef Ranch in St. Francisville, where Josh and Tara Morris raise beef cattle across several farm locations in the Feliciana Parishes. Their herd is exclusively pasture raised, and the beef they sell is all grass-fed.
Sandra Farms, located on a beautiful mountainside in Puerto Rico, is a coffee farm owned by Sandra and Israel Gonzalez. For Israel, farming is a lifelong dream and passion. "I love farming. That is true since I was about six years old. I love it. I mean, it's part of me in a sense," he says.