Precision Ag Summit Highlights Ways Technology Can Improve Farming
Noble Guedon knows the equipment he uses on his Concordia Parish farm documents a lot of information — from which crop varieties he planted to how much they yielded at harvesttime to how fast the tractor was being driven.
So when his tractor generated a map speckled with red, indicating low yields, he was certain he could figure out the reason by consulting some of the other data that had been recorded. As it turned out, those red spots lined up almost exactly with low areas marked on map made from elevation data.
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Czech Forestry Students Visit AgCenter
Forestry is big business in Louisiana, and some students from the Czech Republic are visiting the LSU AgCenter to learn more about research being conducted to support the state’s top agricultural commodity.
Seven students working on master’s degrees in tropical forestry at Mendel University are spending a week in Baton Rouge meeting with LSU students and AgCenter scientists in campus laboratories and at the Botanic Gardens at Burden.
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Markets Highlighted At Forestry Meeting
After several years of market fluctuations, the Louisiana timber industry is finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
That is the optimism shared by forestry professionals during the 2023 Forestry Forum held as a part of AgExpo recently in West Monroe.
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Extension Program Improves Reproductive Efficiency Inn Beef Herds
For many beef cattle producers, evaluating breeding soundness of their herd bulls is often an overlooked practice. Selection of bulls based on genetic potential is one of the most progressive ways to improve the beef herd. However, bulls that do not properly settle cows contribute to reproductive inefficiency and lost income — no matter how genetically superior they may be.
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LSU Researcher Develops Smart Textile That Detects Fevers in Infants
When babies are born, a knit hat is one of the first pieces of clothing they will wear. But what if that hat could be used for more than a warm and cozy covering?
One LSU researcher is exploring ways to use “smart clothing” to track newborns’ temperatures.
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Fund Developed To Increase Sugarcane Production
Harry L. Laws & Company, the majority owner of the Catherine Sugar Company, is creating a non-endowed fund to further research at the LSU AgCenter Sugar Research Station in St. Gabriel.
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Agricultural Policy & Market Situation Newsletter, January, 2023
The attached January Crop Market Update for Corn, Soybeans, Rice, and Cotton contains a discussion on USDA-reported supply and demand dynamics, export sales, and farm price implications for the 2022/23 marketing year.
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LSU Research Discovers New Option For cleaning Spray Tanks
Herbicide-tolerant soybeans expand weed control options to include dicamba, 2,4-D and more. Yet many soybean varieties are still sensitive to herbicides that other varieties have been bred to tolerate. That means herbicide residue left in spray tanks and booms from a previous application can damage crops much like herbicide drift.
A new potential cleaning solution may be available from an unlikely source.
“While researching medicinal plants, I discovered natural ingredients that can solubilize a wide range of substances, or force oil and water to mix,” says Zhijun Liu, professor in the School of Renewable Natural Resources at Louisiana State University.
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LA Master Farmer Program Recognizes Graduates, Award Winner
The Louisiana Master Farmer Program recognized three new graduates, two people who have completed recertification and the winner of the Outstanding Master Farmer Award at a ceremony Jan. 12.
The event was held in Baton Rouge in conjunction with the Louisiana Association of Conservation Districts annual meeting.
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LSU AgCenter Livestock Show Set For February 11-18
Louisiana youth from Ruston to Raceland and everywhere in between will gather in February for the 88th annual LSU AgCenter Livestock Show at the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales.
AgCenter officials expect more than 2,000 4-H and FFA exhibitors to bring thousands of animals for competition during the week of Feb. 11 to 18.
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Christmas Freeze Puts Damper On Record Sugarcane Season
In his 33 years of farming sugarcane, Ricky Gonsoulin had never had as good of a crop as the one he saw growing in his fields in 2022. And in 33 years, he had never lost so much as a stalk of sugarcane to a freeze.
But that unlikely scenario came to pass in late December when an arctic blast sent temperatures below freezing for three days across Louisiana.
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LA Governor To Address Mid-South Agriculture Conference
Gov. John Bel Edwards will give the keynote address as he joins 20 researchers, five farmers and six certified crop advisors, all from Louisiana, who will speak at the upcoming Conservation Systems Conferences on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 at the Crowne Plaza hotel conference center in Baton Rouge.
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Borlaug Fellow Presents Findings On Philippine Corn Production
U-Nichols Manalo, director of the National Corn Program of the Philippine Department of Agriculture, recently gave a presentation detailing his research during his time at LSU working with LSU AgCenter economist Naveen Adusumilli.
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This Idea Formed from a Thesis Project at LSU. Now It's a Full-Fledged Farmers Market.
In her role as the executive director of Big River Economic and Agricultural Development Alliance, Darlene Adams Rowland oversees four locations of the Red Stick Farmers Market in Baton Rouge. Her background includes experience in marketing, fundraising, market management, farmer development, technical assistance and oversight of BREADA’s nutrition outreach programs.
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Emerging Disease Issues In Cotton
The cotton leafroll dwarf virus causes yellowing and distortion of leaves (Figure 1) and is believed to be vectored by the cotton aphid (Aphis gossypii) during feeding (Figure 2). A litany of other symptoms has been attributed to the virus including missing fruit and bolls, over-tall plants, reddening of veins, dwarfed plants and leaf cupping. In some situations in the southeast United States, significant yield losses have been attributed to the virus.
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