Caldwell Parish native Lucas “Luke” Stamper was recently named the new wildlife specialist for the state after serving as the LSU AgCenter regional wildlife and forestry contact for northeast Louisiana.

Stamper, who said he knew he wanted to be a wildlife biologist in high school, received his Bachelor of Science in wildlife ecology from LSU before getting his master’s degree at the University of Louisiana Monroe.

The AG Career Field Day has been going for three years.

Eleventh and twelfth grade students from seven parishes came to Ferriday to learn about the different careers agriculture offers on Friday, March 28.

Over 175 students were given the opportunity to learn about everything from wildlife to welding.

On March 11, 22 students took part in the first class of the Grow Louisiana Beginning Farmer Training Program at the Hill Farm Teaching Facility on the LSU campus. The program is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Transition to Organic Partnership Program, as it focuses on teaching new farmers how to grow a sustainable and profitable organic farm.

From bustling farmers markets to safer sidewalks, Franklin Parish communities are seeing positive changes and many of them can be traced back to a growing partnership with the LSU Ag Center. Through its Healthy Communities initiative, the AgCenter is helping rural towns identify needs, secure funding and implement programs that are already improving residents' quality of life.

The LSU AgCenter Healthy Communities team will host the second Louisiana Charitable Food Summit on April 24 at LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge.

This year’s theme, “Moving Forward Together,” highlights the importance of collaboration in addressing food insecurity. Makenzie Miller, AgCenter local food systems specialist, emphasized the impact of working together to support both those experiencing hunger and the organizations that serve them.

Behind a library in the community of Innis, Louisiana, a new colorful story walk lines the sidewalk. Children and parents have the opportunity to stay healthy by strolling or running along with the story as the library tries to bring more people through its doors.

Community organizers in several of the rural towns and villages that dot Franklin Parish have banded together to improve quality of life in their communities.

New festivals, farmers markets and town events fill the parish calendar. Park improvements draw families to once neglected areas. Grant-funded programs are making the areas more pedestrian-friendly.

The LSU AgCenter Food Innovation Institute (FOODii) and the School of Nutrition and Food Sciences are planning to continue the food demonstration series, Unlocking the Secrets of Food Sciences, that will delve into food science with a culinary twist.

The second session of the series will focus on chips and salsa and will be held Friday, April 25, from 5 to 8:30 p.m. in the test kitchen at the Animal and Food Sciences Laboratory Building on the LSU campus at 39 Forestry Ln.

This month’s 2024/25 U.S. corn outlook remains unchanged relative to last month. The season-average corn price received by producers also remains unchanged at $4.35 per bushel. As with corn, U.S. 2024/25 soybean supply and use projections remain unchanged. The soybean oil balance sheet includes higher exports and lower soybean oil used for biofuel. But unlike corn, seasonaverage soybean price has been revised downward by 15 cents to $9.95 per bushel.

Spring is near in Louisiana. The birds are singing, and flowers are beginning to blossom in our landscapes.

It’s a great time to be outdoors. Watch your step, though, or you might become a victim of another sign of the changing seasons: fire ants.