Posts in LSU AgCenter
Louisiana Students Invited to Celebrate Agriculture in Annual Farm to School Art Contest

In honor of National Farm to School Month this October, Seeds to Success: The Louisiana Farm to School Program and the LSU AgCenter are inviting K through 12 students across Louisiana to showcase their creativity in the 2025 Louisiana Farm to School Art Contest. Students are encouraged to explore Louisiana agriculture and create artwork featuring foods grown in the state, including fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy and seafood.

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Louisiana Sea Grant Fisheries & Seafood Leadership Program

Applications are now being accepted for the Louisiana Sea Grant Fisheries and Seafood Leadership Program.

The program launched in 2023 to help enhance leadership in the Louisiana Commercial Fishing and Seafood Industry.

The Louisiana Sea Grant Fisheries & Seafood Leadership Program (FSLP) is a one-year program divided into four, two-day workshops for networking and skill-building. It includes seminars with experts, on-site tours, personal skills improvement, and meetings with business and government leaders in Louisiana.

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Livestock Welfare, Autism Awareness Advocate Addresses 4-H Leaders On Thinking Differently

It isn’t every day that a former Time Magazine 100 Most Influential People of the Year and the subject of an Emmy-winning HBO movie speaks at an LSU AgCenter event. But that is exactly what happened when internationally renowned author, livestock welfare and autism awareness advocate Temple Grandin addressed the Louisiana Association of Extension 4-H Youth Development Professionals last week in Vernon Parish.

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Louisiana Wheat: August 2025

Each year, the LSU AgCenter tests commercially available wheat varieties at field sites across Louisiana. We collect data on resistance to common diseases, maturity, grain quality, and yield. These are some of the varieties we think are well-suited for consistent production in different part of the state, based on a balance between multi-year yield pefromance and test weight, maturity, and resistance to the diseases common in this state. These may not be the only varieties that will work on your farm, but we encourage you to consider them as part of a set of planted varieties.

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Keeping Ahead of Strawberry Diseases: LSU AgCenter Working With Strawberry Growers To Manage New Disease 

Louisiana strawberry farmers regularly contend with a multitude of challenges, including labor costs, unfavorable weather conditions, insect and mite pests, and plant diseases. In February 2022, a new-to-Louisiana disease was identified when a Tangipahoa Parish strawberry grower asked me to look at a field where plants were dying.

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LSU Hires Louisiana Firm for Presidential Search

The committee tasked with finding LSU’s next president will hire a Louisiana firm to guide its search. 

At its first meeting Tuesday, the search committee announced it would work with SSA Consultants of Baton Rouge with the aim of finding a candidate by the end of the year. SSA’s  experience primarily involves recruiting executives for the finance, general business, construction, health care, nonprofit and public sectors.  

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Pawpaws: An Old Native with Renewed Interest

The pawpaw (Asimina triloba), America’s largest native fruit, is experiencing a resurgence of interest from chefs, brewers and native plant enthusiasts. The LSU AgCenter has been encouraging the cultivation of pawpaws in Louisiana through an annual Pawpaw Symposium in partnership with the Meraux Foundation and through extension education outreach to specialty crop producers looking to diversify their offerings.

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Reduction in the Hypoxia Dead Zone

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-supported scientists recently announced that data reveal this year’s Gulf hypoxia, known as the dead zone, is 21% smaller than estimates predicted for June 2025. This is the 15th smallest measurement on record.

The goal of reducing the dead zone has been a joint effort by many, and therefore it is difficult to determine how much contribution or impact any one organization has had on this reduction.

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Crop Market Report: August, 2025

This month’s 2025/26 U.S. corn outlook is for sharply higher supplies, greater domestic use and exports, and larger ending stocks. Projected beginning stocks for 2025/26 are 35 million bushels lower based on a slightly higher use forecast for 2024/25. For 2024/25, larger corn exports are partly offset by reductions in corn used for ethanol and glucose and dextrose. Corn production for 2025/26 is forecast at a record 16.7 billion bushels, up 1.0 billion from last month with a 1.9-million acre increase in harvested area and higher yield. If realized, this total would be 1.4 billion bushels more than the prior record set in 2023/24.

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Louisiana Farm to School Conference set for Oct. 8 in Baton Rouge

The Louisiana Farm to School Conference is back for its ninth year, bringing together educators, farmers, school nutrition staff, administrators and community leaders from across the state. Hosted by the LSU AgCenter Seeds to Success: Louisiana Farm to School Program, the event will be held Tuesday, October 8, at Pennington Biomedical Conference Center in Baton Rouge from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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LSU AgCenterkristen oaks
An Oral History of the LSU AgCenter's Response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

A pair of natural disasters stunned south Louisiana in 2005.

When Hurricane Katrina hit the coast on Aug. 29 and Hurricane Rita followed on Sept. 24, much of south Louisiana sustained tremendous damage. The storms caused more than 1,100 deaths, according to the Louisiana Department of Health; displaced several communities; and led to $108 billion in damage, according to the National Weather Service. LSU AgCenter economists estimated that the state’s agricultural sectors sustained nearly $1.6 billion in losses from the storms.

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4-H Hall of Fame Ceremony Highlights Dedication to Youth Development

Rosy Williams Bromell said if she can do something well, she probably learned it in 4-H. Bromell was one of 12 honorees inducted into the Louisiana 4-H Hall of Fame during a ceremony held Aug. 9 at the Grant Walker 4-H Educational Center in Pollock, Louisiana.

“I learned how to sew a little, how to cook, how to judge livestock, how to show cows and pigs and how to speak,” Bromell said. “I think the biggest thing that 4-H gave to me was my ability to be a leader.”

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