Agribusiness

Louisiana’s location is one of its most valuable advantages. The state’s superior transportation infrastructure and proximity to abundant natural resources and feedstock coupled with a large selection of identified and certified sites make doing business in Louisiana a optimal choice for agribusiness operations.

Taxes
According to a 50-state analysis by the Tax Foundation and KPMG: Location Matters: A Comparative Analysis of State Costs on Business, Louisiana ranks as the lowest tax burden for new capital-intensive manufacturing operations in the U.S. and the lowest tax burden for new labor-intensive manufacturing. The total effective tax rate is less than 1 percent.

Louisiana also provides a 10-year, 100 percent property tax exemption on industrial capital investments, single-sales factor income tax and corporate franchise tax apportionment for manufacturers and other competitive prospects; and a 100 percent annual rebate on inventory taxes.

Incentives
LED administers highly competitive incentives to attract, grow and retain agribusiness operations throughout the state. In particular, the state’s Quality Jobs program provides a 5 percent or 6 percent cash rebate of annual gross payroll for new, direct jobs that meet minimum qualifications, for up to 10 years.

Drax Biomass found Louisiana incentives advantageous and began talks with the state in January 2012 about its plans for a wood pellet facility. Drax is a development and operating company focused on manufacturing wood pellets for renewable, low-carbon power generation from sustainable biomass. The state offered Drax a custom incentive package that includes a $1.7 million Economic Development Loan Program commitment that will not require repayment if the company meets payroll performance obligations. Drax will receive the services of LED FastStart at no cost and is expected to use Louisiana's Quality Jobs and Industrial Tax Exemption program incentives as well.

Electricity Rates
Utility expenses can be a significant factor for many agribusiness operations but a Louisiana location can be a big benefit to your bottom line. The U.S. Energy Information Administration recently ranked Louisiana as having the lowest industrial electricity rates in the South and the 2nd lowest in the nation — 30 percent below the national average.

Louisiana values business investment, and when you move or expand your agribusiness operations here, you can count on innovative solutions to meet your company's specific needs. LED has the ability to be agile and flexible — customizing incentives and workforce solutions, aligning state and local resources, connecting your company with valuable resources and coordinating permitting and startup activities to ensure that your operation proceeds smoothly and on schedule.

ConAgra Foods Lamb Weston
When ConAgra Foods Lamb Weston located its sweet potato processing facility in Louisiana, FastStart provided more than 16,500 hours of customized workforce recruitment, screening and training to the company during the project’s initial phase, with additional services slated as an expansion comes online in 2014. ConAgra Lamb Weston also received support from the local community — the City of Delhi expanded its sewer and water capacity to accommodate the facility, and Richland Parish contributed funding toward an access road and other site infrastructure.

“Not only is the state of Louisiana known for its high-quality sweet potatoes, it offers a great environment for business and a skilled workforce.”
- Jeff DeLapp, President (2002-2011), ConAgra Foods Lamb Weston

Environmental Permitting
Louisiana understands that a company’s ability to ramp up quickly and efficiently is a significant factor in their location decision. To maximize time and efficiency for business, the state has created an expedited environmental permit-processing program, which enables Louisiana to issue permits more quickly and efficiently than just about any other state in the country.

“We feel that the expedited permit process has significantly shortened permit processing time, helping GP turn projects around often much faster than GP mills in neighboring states.”
- Keith Wahoske, Vice President — Port Hudson Operations, Georgia-Pacific, LLC

• Identification of Value-Added Agriculture Opportunities Report
  Extensive analyses are contained in this report for the following subsectors of Louisiana’s agriculture and food economy: poultry, dairy, aquaculture, cotton, rice and sugar.

• Algae-to-Energy Opportunities in Louisiana
  Identifies  commercial algae-to-energy ventures and the market potential for Louisiana as a location for algal fuel development.

• Investment in the Forest Product Industry
  Form to request three investment prospectuses focused on different wood products manufactured in Louisiana which have been identified for growth and investment potential.

• Feasibility of Building a Soybean Crush Facility in Louisiana
  The supply and demand of soybeans in Louisiana and in the world have changed significantly in recent years. Soybean production in Louisiana is up significantly, growing at about 5% per year for each of the last five years.

• The Opportunity for Pet Food Manufacturing in Louisiana
  Demonstrates the market potential for super-premium and niche pet food products, and the viability of a manufacturing facility in Louisiana.