(Distributed 10/28/14) OAK GROVE, La. – West Carroll Parish is made up of quiet little Southern towns — the kinds that cannot be located on maps, that exist unknown to the outside world in a region where change occurs almost as slowly as the pace of life. These are places that seem charming to some and backwards to others.

(Distributed 10/29/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – At 7 a.m., many LSU students are probably still in bed. Others are trekking from far-away commuter parking lots to their early morning classes. But animal science junior Morgan Richard’s Thursdays begin quite differently – with 20 hungry calves mooing at her.

(Distributed 10/29/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – Louisiana Volunteers for Family and Community members used their 2014 Mini College fall training program on the LSU campus as an opportunity to celebrate the 100 years of the Cooperative Extension Service on October 15-16.

(Distributed 10/28/14) CHASE, La. – Sweet potatoes are a staple of many holiday meals, and Louisiana sweet potato producers are nearing the completion of a successful harvest, according to an expert with the LSU AgCenter.

(Distributed 10/27/14) SHREVEPORT, La. – Thanks to the LSU AgCenter’s AgMagic, Doyline students Jamaria Clark and Jordan Fuller went on a magical tour harvesting cotton during the 2014 State Fair of Louisiana on Oct. 23.

(Distributed 10/27/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – Faculty from one of the LSU AgCenter’s newest international partners, Mendel University in the Czech Republic, visited Baton Rouge Oct. 20-24.

(Distributed 10/27/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – Louisiana gardeners and others have a chance to “Get It Growing” next year with the publication of the 2015 calendar from the LSU AgCenter.

(Distributed 10/27/14) Want to add color to your fall, winter and early spring garden? Plant some colorful Sorbet series violas.

(Distributed 10/24/14) VILLE PLATTE, La. – Most Louisiana farmers harvesting this year’s soybean crop are reporting one of their best years, according to the LSU AgCenter soybean specialist.

(Distributed 10/24/14) HAMMOND, La. – November is prime time for cool-season bedding plants, and dianthus have been among the plants in this group gaining considerable popularity the past 10 years.

(Distributed 10/23/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens at Burden will present Cocktails in the Garden, an evening of entertainment and dancing, from 7:30-10:30 p.m. on Nov. 14.

(Distributed 10/22/14)BATON ROUGE, La. – “Welcome to 4-H Camp. Unpack a positive attitude, and you will see the endless possibilities.”

(Distributed 10/22/14) ALEXANDRIA, La. – Injectable trace minerals may improve reproductive rates in cattle. This was one of several research projects cattle producers heard about at the LSU AgCenter beef cattle and forage field day on Oct. 16 at the Dean Lee Research and Extension Center.

(Distributed 10/21/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – Nominations for induction into the Louisiana Agriculture Hall of Distinction are being accepted now through Dec. 15. Inductees will be recognized at a banquet at White Oak Plantation in Baton Rouge on March 5, 2015.

(Distributed 10/21/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – An LSU College of Agriculture nutrition and food science team placed first in the national DuPont Knowledge Award, winning $10,000 for a new food product the team developed.

(Distributed 10/17/14) HAMMOND, La. – Landscape professionals who attended the landscape horticulture industry field day on Oct. 9 got a two-for-one deal. In addition to the LSU AgCenter’s annual field day, where the latest research is presented, the Southeast Louisiana Nursery Association Trade Show was an added attraction this year.

(Distributed 10/14/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU AgCenter will hold four meetings in November to inform agricultural producers about proposed Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) rules. The meetings will be conducted by AgCenter extension food safety specialist Achyut Adhikari, pecan specialist Charlie Graham and horticulture specialist Kiki Fontenot.

(Distributed 10/17/14) Louisiana gardeners are always looking for attractive trees for the landscape. The sweetbay magnolia (Magnolia virginiana) is an excellent native tree that is not nearly as well known as it should be.

(Distributed 10/17/14) HAMMOND, La. – The ideal planting time for cool-season bedding plants in Louisiana runs from late September through early December. Some of our common cool-season flowers prefer the earlier planting dates, and some do better with the later planting dates.

(Distributed 10/16/14) CROWLEY, La. – Farmers soon will have to make several choices that will stand for the life of the new farm bill, which will expire in 2018.

(Distributed 10/16/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – Members of Louisiana 4-H Clubs are recognizing the week of Oct. 26 as Bullying Prevention Week. 4-H’ers voted for bullying prevention as the theme of their yearly statewide service-learning project at 4-H University this summer.

(Distributed 10/14/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – Horse owners should take precautions against rain rot, a skin disease that can flourish in Louisiana’s wet and humid weather, according to LSU AgCenter equine specialist Neely Walker.

(Distributed 10/14/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – Sodium alginate in LSU purple and gold attracted youngsters to the LSU Food Science Club’s booth at Super Science Saturday on Saturday, Oct. 11, at the LSU Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

(Distributed 10/14/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU AgCenter will host two timber tax workshops to provide those in the industry with the latest information.

(Distributed 10/14/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – For the past two years, LSU AgCenter scientists have monitored the movement of the kudzu bug since it was discovered in northeast Louisiana.

(Distributed 10/10/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – With roots in Central America and a good grasp of the Spanish language, Maria Moore felt comfortable being one of the first students from LSU to do an exchange with Zamorano Pan-American Agricultural School in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

(Distributed 10/10/14) Looking for some of the best of the multi-seasonal flowering azaleas? Look no further than the Encore azaleas – the “azalea that knows no season.”

(Distributed 10/07/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU AgCenter housing specialist Claudette Reichel recently appeared in a national disaster campaign that includes a region-specific publication and three disaster-recovery videos for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

(Distributed 10/10/14) HAMMOND, La. – The LSU AgCenter’s Louisiana Super Plant program is now on its fifth year of educating, promoting, recommending and marketing truly great landscape plants that have performed well in test gardens at the Hammond Research Station and elsewhere around the state. Plant selections are announced each spring and fall.

(Distributed 10/10/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – Beginning on October 15, all forages tested by the LSU AgCenter will have results coming from new, high-tech equipment on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge.

(Distributed 10/08/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – While the United States and Slovakia are different in many ways, the two countries’ agriculture industries share similar challenges.

(Distributed 10/02/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – Sweet sorghum is not currently grown as a commercial crop in Louisiana, but in the future, producers may consider growing it for use as a biofuel feedstock.

(Distributed 10/07/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – Thirteen LSU students were awarded undergraduate research grants with funding coming from the LSU College of Agriculture and the LSU AgCenter.

(Distributed 10/06/14) CALHOUN, La. – The LSU AgCenter is returning 329 acres of land that housed the former Calhoun Research Station to the Ouachita Parish Police Jury. The AgCenter will retain a 57-acre forest stand for research, according to Dale Frederick, director of AgCenter Facilities Planning.

(Distributed 10/06/14) ABBEVILLE, La. – Cattle owners considering an increase in their herds should be mindful of paying too much for heifers, LSU AgCenter beef cattle experts advised Thursday (Oct. 2).

(Distributed 10/06/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – In a game called habitat scramble, third-graders visiting the LSU AgCenter’s Trees and Trails at Burden Museum and Gardens learned what happens when an animal’s habitat is destroyed.

(Distributed 10/03/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – A biofuels company will receive a $91 million loan guarantee to build a processing plant in Alexandria, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Friday (Oct. 3) in Baton Rouge.

(Distributed 10/03/14) CROWLEY, La. – The 2014 Louisiana rice crop is better than we expected “but not as good as last year,” said Johnny Saichuk, LSU AgCenter rice specialist.

(Distributed 10/03/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU AgCenter and U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency will host 13 educational meetings in October and November to help Louisiana farmers prepare for changes in the new farm bill. The meetings will be conducted by Louisiana FSA personnel along with AgCenter economists Mike Salassi, Kurt Guidry and Michael Deliberto.

(Distributed 10/03/14) Fall is the time of the year for ornamental peppers. These are a unique, specialty plant for home landscapes.

(Distributed 10/03/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – Gina E. Eubanks, an administrator with the LSU AgCenter and the Southern University Agricultural Research and Extension Center, received the Leadership Award at the Booker T. Washington Economic Summit at Tuskegee University, in Alabama.

(Distributed 10/03/14) HAMMOND, La. – It’s getting to the time of year when multiseason-blooming azaleas will begin their fall floral displays. Popular fall-flowering azaleas include the Robin Hill and Encore types.