Louisiana Grain Research Takes Preparation and Time

by Don Molino
for the Louisiana Soybean and Grain Research and Promotion Board

LSU AgCenter corn specialist Dr. Dan Fromme at the Dean Lee Research Station at Alexandria says it takes quite a while to go from research idea to planting.

"When we finish up a harvest season as far as corn is concerned somewhere around August or early September, "says Fromme, "we begin to summarize the collected data.

"And after we summarize the data and report the data to everyone then we have to begin preparing for next year. That more or less entails writing a research proposal in a format that hopefully everyone can understand the thought process and what you want to accomplish."

Once the proposal has been accepted and funded then Fromme and other researchers have to go to work and line up planting locations across the state, visiting with produces to make sure they're on board and they are interested as well to allow the research project (funded by the Louisiana Soybean and Grain Research and Promotion Board) to be conducted on growers fields.

"When you think about it," continued Fromme, "this is a yearlong process, actually."