(Distributed 03/22/13) NEW ORLEANS, La. – New Orleans is famous for its food. Fried seafood, rich gumbos and spicy etouffees are some of the city’s staples. But healthier fare is making its mark on the city’s landscape in the form of urban farms.

(Distributed 03/22/13) HAMMOND, La. – Gardeners have long desired flowers that are low-maintenance in their landscape. But they also want these flowers to last spring through fall.

(Distributed 03/12/13) LSU AgCenter will conduct a wheat and oat field day on April 17 at the Macon Ridge Research Station south of Winnsboro, La.

(Distributed 03/20/13) BATON ROUGE, La. – Dan Hayes, an assistant professor in the LSU AgCenter Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, has been awarded a $400,000 Career Award grant from the National Science Foundation.

(Distributed 03/20/13) ALEXANDRIA, La. – Farmers sowed the first seeds of spring with corn going into the ground early in March. Wet weather delayed the start of planting, according to LSU AgCenter corn specialist, Ronnie Levy, but once drier conditions moved in, farmers planted a lot of corn in a short time.

(Distributed 03/18/13) CROWLEY, La. – LSU AgCenter research funded by Louisiana rice farmers’ checkoff funds led to federal approval of a bird repellent, AV-1011, that prevents birds from eating rice seed once it is planted.

(Distributed 03/18/13) CLINTON, La. – How best to deal with feral hogs and an overview of the epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) problem in white-tailed deer were featured at the LSU AgCenter Wildlife Field Day at the Bob R. Jones-Idlewild Research Station on March 16.

(Distributed 03/18/13) BATON ROUGE, La. – Sometimes calories aren’t the same. They’re a measure of energy in foods, but calories in some foods are more easily transferred into the body than calories in other foods, said Richard Mattes, professor of foods and nutrition at Purdue University.

(Distributed 03/15/13) The LSU AgCenter brings the “magic” of agriculture to the Parker Coliseum April 22-28 on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge.

(Distributed 03/15/13) ALEXANDRIA, La. – The director of the Louisiana Forestry Association told foresters at a March 12 conference that several industries are planning to locate in Louisiana that would use wood to make biofuels and fertilizers.