Louisiana Agritourism: Yellow Rails and Rice Festival Registration Open

Friday, June 1, 2012

Yellow Rails and Rice Festival Registration Open

The fourth annual Yellow Rails and Rice Festival is scheduled for 24-28 October 2012. Designed with fun in mind, its primary goal is to provide participants a unique venue to view Yellow Rails while at the same time bringing birders and farmers together to realize the value to birds of the area’s “working wetlands.” The festival schedule is casual and participants can attend all field days (weather permitting) or come and go at their leisure. Leaders/facilitators are positioned at field sites and help participants spot birds as well as provide information or answer questions. In addition to visiting rice fields, participants can join trips to local points of interest, morning field trips to explore areas nearby, or two trips farther afield to the pineywoods or Cameron Parish coast on Saturday. These field trips highlight some of Louisiana’s other habitats and the birds associated with them. Many of the agencies and organizations that study, manage, and protect these areas also assist at the festival, as well as have information booths during the opening reception (icons displayed below) so that participants can learn more about their activities. Two workshops are also offered this year. Based in Jennings, participants are positioned in the heart of Cajun Country in Louisiana’s southwest prairie region, an area known for great birding, local cuisine, and a rich history and culture. (Text copied from website.)

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Agritourism Law Limits Liability

In 2008, the Louisiana Legislature expanded the limitation of liability found in La R.S. 9:2795 et seq to include certain agritourism activities. The legislation authored by Representative Andy Anders and Senators Francis Thompson and Mike Walsworth provides that the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Foresty (LDAF) will develop a set of rules and regulations and that the LSU AgCenter will define a “plan of operation” for an agritourism venture and review those plans.

More about this law can be found on the LSU AgCenter Web site: www.lsuagcenter.com/agritourism

2012 Agriculture Census Shows Increase in Farming

WASHINGTON, May 2, 2014 –There are now 3.2 million farmers operating 2.1 million farms on 914.5 million acres of farmland across the United States, according to the 2012 Census of Agriculture, released today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“Once every five years, farmers, ranchers and growers have the unique opportunity to let the world know how U.S. agriculture is changing, what is staying the same, what’s working and what we can do differently,” said Dr. Cynthia Clark, the retiring head of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, which administered the survey.

Eighty-seven percent of all U.S. farms are operated by families or individuals.
Principal operators were on average 58.3 years old and were predominantly male; second operators were slightly younger and most likely to be female; and third operators were younger still.
In Louisiana agritourism grew from 170 farms in 2007 to 361 farms in 2012.
In Louisiana onfarm agritourism sales jumped from $2,486 to $8,996 in 2012.
In Louisiana the definition of agritourism is broader than the definition in the census; meaning that numbers are greater.