LSU Provost's Fund Invests $1.2 Million in Highly Competitive Research Teams
In a second round of Big Idea seed grants, the largest internal funding program in LSU history, the Provost’s Fund for Innovation in Research is investing $1.2 million in 15 interdisciplinary research teams. Aligned with LSU’s Scholarship First Agenda, the teams and their projects aim to solve pressing problems in Louisiana and everywhere.
In total, the funded projects will engage 65 faculty across nine colleges and schools on LSU’s flagship campus in Baton Rouge, extending collaboration to LSU Athletics, LSU AgCenter, Pennington Biomedical Research Center and LSU Health New Orleans. Two projects support advances in agriculture; seven projects drive discovery in biomedicine; six projects elevate the coast and environment; six projects protect the state and nation through stronger defense and cybersecurity; and six projects help secure the future of energy.
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Soybean Mid-May Planting Progress and Managing Flooded Conditions
Louisiana's soybean planting progressed well in mid-April, exceeding the five-year average. However, heavy rains in mid-May slowed progress, with only 69% planted by May 12th, 2024. This lags behind last year's 76% at the same point. An article, “The Farmer's Forecast: More Soybean Planting Delays” indicates continued rain and potential wind/hail threats.
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LSU AgCenter Entomologist Seeks Input from Public Via New Website
With summer comes outdoor activities and the possibility of encountering ticks and the diseases they carry. To determine which species may be common to a particular location in Louisiana, an LSU AgCenter researcher and her team have developed an online tool to assist in locating the bloodsuckers.
AgCenter entomologist Kristen Healy has been working with the Louisiana Department of Health and Tulane University to better understand the risk for tickborne diseases in Louisiana. According to Healy, the state hasn't had a survey of ticks in decades, and much of the current knowledge predates that of the introduction of imported fire ants.
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Nutrition Knowledge Grows in Zion City Community with Garden, Classes
On a breezy sunny evening in May, before the heat of summer settles in, a dozen or so people gathered in what was once a vacant lot in Baton Rouge’s Zion City but is now a growing community garden.
Only minor work was being done in the garden that day — a little pruning, a couple of plantings. Mostly, the group sat in lawn chairs, while Clifford Payne tended hamburgers on a grill. This lot, which was filled with waist-high weeds just a few months earlier, has become a meeting spot for the community.
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Market Update for Corn, Soybeans, Rice, and Cotton: May 2024
The 2024/25 U.S. corn outlook is for larger supplies, greater domestic use and exports, and higher ending stocks. The corn crop is projected at 14.9 billion bushels, 3 percent down from last year’s record as increases in yield helped partially offset decreased area. The yield projection of 181.0 bushels per acre is based on a weather-adjusted trend assuming normal planting progress and summer growing season weather, estimated using the 1988-2023 period.
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Seeds to Success Program Hosts First Louisiana Farm to School Institute
Seeds to Success: The Louisiana Farm to School Program hosted the first Louisiana Farm to School Institute at the Wesley Center in Woodworth from April 30 to May 3.
Four teams selected from across Louisiana convened to kick off a unique, yearlong professional learning opportunity that helps school teams take their farm to school activities to the next level.
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Targeting Insects In Louisiana Hemp
Research efforts across all aspects of hemp production are currently needed to aid in the successful reestablishment and long-term success of this crop in the U.S. A 2020 survey of licensed U.S. hemp farmers determined one of the most challenging aspects of production was the lack of information on the efficacy of currently labeled hemp insecticides.
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Horizon Ag Adds New Rice Breeder At LSU Rice Research Station
Horizon Ag is pleased to announce the hiring of Dr. María Guadalupe Montiel for the newly created position of Rice Breeder for the company’s independent lab located at the Louisiana State University (LSU) AgCenter Rice Research Station at Crowley.
The position was created as part of a recent partnership between Horizon Ag and the LSU AgCenter to support enhanced collaborative breeding efforts. In her new role, Dr. Montiel will have access to the AgCenter’s elite rice-breeding germplasm, and any new varieties released by Horizon Ag will be in addition to the AgCenter’s breeding activities.
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Food Preservation Camp Demystifies Canning
In a kitchen normally used to prepare meals for hungry 4-H campers, participants in a different type of camp looked on with interest and anticipation as LSU AgCenter nutrition and community health agent Breanna Staab stirred a saucepan containing a bubbling blend of pureed bell and serrano peppers, sugar and vinegar.
Staab was guiding the adult campers through the process of making and canning pepper jelly as part of an April 30 food preservation camp at the Grant Walker 4-H Educational Center in Pollock.
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LSU AgCenter Launches Online Course For Retailers Interested In Specialized Food Processes
Recent trends in the food business are driving restaurants, chefs and artisans to market their fare in new ways and blend manufacturing and retail.
Online marketplaces sell Louisiana boudin to customers all over the globe. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, restaurants and grocers are selling more packaged sushi and other foods so customers can dine at home.
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Wheat, Oat Field Day Provides Producers The Latest Crop Updates
The weather couldn’t have been better for attendees of the LSU AgCenter’s 2024 Wheat and Oat Field Day, which brought researchers together with producers from across the state to discuss a variety of topics.
The annual informational gathering, held last week at the AgCenter’s Tom H. Scott Research Station in Winnsboro, began with a discussion of Fusarium head blight, also known as scab, from AgCenter plant pathologists Trey Price and Boyd Padgett.
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Inaugural LSU AgExcellence Awards Ceremony Honors Difference Makers
The LSU AgCenter and College of Agriculture hosted the inaugural AgExcellence Awards Ceremony, led by Vice President and Dean Matt Lee and emceed by Avery Davidson from the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation. The event recognized leaders whose contributions have significantly advanced the AgCenter's mission in public policy, industry, community partnerships and academia.
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Varying Viewpoints On Roseau Cane Discussed At Wetlands Invasive Species Workshop
Scientists from multiple states convened earlier this month to collaborate and share research at the Management of Invasive Species in Wetlands workshop held on the campus of LSU.
Pramod Pantha, a postdoctoral researcher in Maheshi Dassanayake’s laboratory in the LSU Department of Biological Sciences, helped to put the event together and opened the proceedings with a discussion of genomic insights into invasive traits using Phragmites australis, or roseau cane, as a model.
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LSU's Brahman Bloodlines
Most people with even passing familiarity with LSU history know 1958 was a milestone year for the university. It was the first time the LSU Tigers claimed a national championship on the football field, a feat that wouldn’t be accomplished again for more than four decades.
Elsewhere on campus that year, another national championship was being celebrated.
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New Partnership Between The LSU AgCenter & Horizon Ag To Benefit Rice Industry
The LSU AgCenter is partnering with Horizon Ag, a seed marketing and variety development company, to initiate a new rice breeding program focused on varieties for southern rice-producing areas, which include Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas.
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