Seeds are taking root in fields across Louisiana following a relatively warm winter, and spring calving season is almost complete.

While spring signals a new year for commodities, agriculture is a year-long effort in Louisiana. Before the first seeds are planted, LSU AgCenter researchers and extension agents are working to ensure that those seeds meet success.

The annual Florida Parishes Forestry Forum will be held March 17 at the Lynhaven Event Center located at 21660 Old Covington Highway. 

LSU AgCenter extension forester Whitney Wallace said the meeting will last from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., and the theme for this year’s forum is post-hurricane forest management. 

This month’s 2022/23 U.S. corn outlook is for lower corn used for ethanol and larger ending stocks. Corn used for ethanol is reduced 25 million bushels, based on data through December from the Grain Crushings and Co-Products Production report and weekly ethanol production data as reported by the Energy Information Administration for the month of January.

With corn planting occurring rapidly throughout the state, I’ve received numerous questions about how an Easter cold snap may impact emerged corn. The effect of frost on emerged corn is mainly damage to the leaf tissue. Within the first 24 hours after the frost event, corn leaves may turn yellow or brown and exhibit a water-soaked appearance.

For more than a quarter of a century, LSU AgCenter food scientist Witoon Prinyawiwatkul has regularly returned to his native Thailand to help grow two universities and develop dozens of students who wish to follow his path.

At the AgCenter, Prinyawiwatkul — the Horace J. Davis Endowed Professor in the School of Nutrition and Food Sciences — researches ways to reduce sodium in food and develops the uses of insects for human consumption.

In visits to Thailand each year, he has shared his knowledge by teaching more than 120 short courses and workshops, consulting with food science programs and advising students.

“I want to give back to my country,” he said.

Each year beef cattle producers face decisions over whether to cull females from their herds because of decreased productivity, illness or injury, age and many other factors. Along with culling comes the decision to replace these females with heifers — young females that have not yet given birth to a calf — to maintain herd size and productivity. It is not uncommon for producers to have a replacement rate of 15% to 20% annually.

Louisiana’s hot and humid climate, long growing season with mild winters and its unique geographical location provide perfect breeding grounds for introduction and establishment of invasive plant diseases. Among some of the most important invasive plant diseases threatening Louisiana specialty crops detected during the past decade are boxwood dieback, citrus canker and palm phytoplasmas.

The LSU AgCenter’s AgMagic event, which educates visitors about the importance of agriculture, will return to Baton Rouge and Greater New Orleans this spring.

For almost two decades, this annual, free event has taken thousands of children and adults alike on an interactive journey through several facets of Louisiana agriculture.

Three individuals who have spent their careers dedicated to improving agriculture in Louisiana are the newest inductees into the Louisiana Agriculture Hall of Distinction. The induction too place place at the L’Auberge Hotel in Baton Rouge last night.

James Hendrix, conservation agronomist for the LSU AgCenter Northeast Region, has been named the Conservation Systems Soybean and Corn Researcher of the Year for 2023.

Hendrix received the award during the 2023 National Conservation Systems Cotton and Rice Conference held recently in Baton Rouge.