WesMar Gets Highway Sign

Congratulations to WesMar Dairy Farm. Their new road signs located on Highway 1 and on Bayou des Glaises Street in Moreauville look great as you can see. WesMar Farms met the eligibility criteria for participating in the LA DOTD "Louisiana Tourist Oriented Directional Sign Program." Marguerite Constantine, owner of WesMar, provided me with the following information: "Qualifications, manufacturing and installation of the signs are administered by the Louisiana Department of Transportation through Louisiana Interstate Logos. That website: http://www.louisiana.interstatelogos.com or by telephone 1-877-309-3078. This should be your first point of contact." La Interstate Logos conducts the inspections and site visits to determine eligibility, measure distances, etc. If the site qualifies, they work with the owner/operator to design the appropriate sign. Once the sign is approved by the owner and fees paid, the paperwork is forwarded to LaDOTD for final approval. Once approved, the signs are manufactured and installed.

Miss Lou Rural Tourism Summit, August 7-9 in Natchez, MS

This year's summit is in historic Natchez, MS. Click here for details. Each year the summit rotates between Louisiana and Mississippi locations. Topics for this year’s summit will include the film industry, creative entrepreneurship, culinary arts, marketing and public relations strategies and utilizing media outlets. The theme of this years summit, is "I think I can, I think I can." Speakers from Louisiana and Mississippi will discuss how small towns can develop their tourism assets. To REGISTER and look at the AGENDA click here.

Louisiana Agritourism Connection Newsletter Available

The lastest edition of the Louisiana Agritourism Connection is now available online. Click here to read.

Oklahoma Bus Tour Generates New Ideas for Farmers

Oklahoma farmers and ranchers just participated in a regional bus tour to showcase farms using agritourism to bolster their incomes. Participants were given the opportunity to board a bus and tour working farms. At each stop farmers shared their success stories using agritourism to bring income to local, rural areas. For the story click here. Photo by: CELIA AMPEL

New foreign worker law could hurt Louisiana processors

The economic impact of the new prevailing wage rate increase for H-2B-temporary non-agricultural workers could put some Louisiana processors out of business, according to LSU AgCenter economist Mike Salassi. The H-2B program, which covers non-agricultural employment, is one of two programs that govern the hiring of foreign workers. The second program, H-2A covers farm workers. The program allows foreign workers into the United States when qualified United States workers are not available and when the employment of foreign workers will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed United States workers. Last year, Congress passed the law to increase the prevailing wage for these non-agricultural foreign workers, Salassi said. The law, which goes into effect this October, is designed to keep foreign workers from displacing American workers by taking jobs at lower wage rates. To read more of LSU AgCenter's Johnny Morgan's story, click here.