(Distributed 05/01/07) The LSU AgCenter introduced a financial education program for K-12 school system employees at a financial educators’ summit April 27. The program called SAIL, Saving and Investing for Life, will be offered across the state to educators and support staff.

(Distributed 05/01/07) Economists, sociologists and policymakers from federal, state and local governments will be attending the second national forum on socioeconomic research in coastal systems this month in New Orleans. Sponsored by the LSU AgCenter’s Center for Natural Resource Economics and Policy, the conference will be held May 20-23.

(Distributed 05/03/07) Volunteer leaders from across the state will gather for the 18th Louisiana Community Economic Development Seminar May 8-9 at the Louisiana Emerging Technology Center on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge.

(Distributed 05/03/07) A great deal of attention has been focused on the immediate and lingering effects of hurricanes Katrina and Rita on agricultural commodities, but the hurricanes also affected processors and marketers of those products. According to Dr. Matthew Fannin, agricultural economist with the LSU AgCenter, the total value-added created by the overall food and fiber system in Louisiana declined just over 3.5 percent during the time frame of the storms

(Distributed 05/09/07) Work by the LSU AgCenter was instrumental in a U.S. Department of Agriculture program that has compensated sugarcane producers with $40 million for losses caused by hurricanes Rita and Katrina. LSU AgCenter sugarcane expert Dr. Ben Legendre said payments were recently distributed, and he said several individuals in the AgCenter and other agencies worked to provide information that helped farmers.

(Distributed 05/10/07) Louisiana’s forest product sectors have remained vigorous despite the lingering effects of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, according to Dr. Matthew Fannin, an agricultural economist with the LSU AgCenter. "While value-added food and fiber sectors, such as the food product manufacturing sector, were adversely affected by the hurricanes, forest product sectors were only minimally affected" Fannin said.

(Distributed 05/09/07) A new foreign insect is making itself known to Louisiana residents. The brown widow spider, which experts believe has migrated from Florida to Louisiana in the past couple of years, is becoming more common, according to entomologists with the LSU AgCenter.

(Distributed 05/14/07) Late spring through early summer is the best time to attack several weed species that infest pastures, according to Dr. Ron Strahan of the LSU AgCenter. An LSU AgCenter weed scientist, Strahan gave an overview of weed control at an LSU AgCenter Model Farm field day May 4.

(Distributed 05/17/07) A poultry demonstration facility at the LSU AgCenter’s Hill Farm Research Station at Homer is moving closer to completion as equipment is arriving and being installed in two new commercial-sized broiler houses. The houses, which are being built and equipped with funds from the LSU AgCenter, poultry companies and other donors, will be used to test and demonstrate different types of equipment.

(Distributed 05/08/07) Farmers, ranchers and rural businesses are being encouraged to apply for grant and loan funding through two of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development programs – the Value-Added Producer Grant Program and the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Program, according to Kay Lynn Tettleton, LSU AgCenter community development agent. The deadlines are May 16 and May 18.

(Distributed 05/17/07) Nearly 1,000 4-H members and volunteer leaders will convene in Baton Rouge on Tuesday, June 5, at 10 a.m. as part of the sixth annual 4-H Day at the Capitol. The event will give 4-H’ers an opportunity to visit with their legislators and see how state government conducts its business while the legislature is in session.

(Distributed 05/15/07) The LSU AgCenter will host a free workshop on corn drying and storage at the West Carroll Parish Extension Office located at the Thomas Jason Lingo Community Center in Oak Grove from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Tuesday, June 12.

(Distributed 05/10/07) The Northwest Louisiana Master Gardener Association has completed the first phase of a project to enhance the gardens at the Randle T. Moore Center, a majestic home built in the 1920s that now is a senior citizens center. They showed off their work at an open house May 9.

(Distributed 05/15/07) Terri Crawford, a 21-year veteran of the LSU AgCenter, has been named the new regional nutrition agent for the nine-parish Northeast Region. Her office is at the Scott Research and Extension Education Center in Winnsboro.

(Distributed 05/21/07) Having his farm chosen as one of the 13 model farms across the state in the LSU AgCenter’s Master Farmer program helps Gary Lirette of Marthaville “do the right things.”

(Distributed 05/22/07) The LSU AgCenter’s annual field day at the Northeast Research Station in St. Joseph will be Wednesday, June 13.

(Distributed 05/23/07) Southwestern Electric Power Co. of Shreveport has pledged a $10,000 endowment with the Louisiana 4-H Foundation that will positively impact 4-H’ers in six parishes. SWEPCO 4-H Leadership Scholarships will be given annually to select 4-H members to attend 4-H Camp at the Grant Walker 4-H Educational Center near Pollock, said Eric Eskew, executive director of the Louisiana 4-H Foundation.

(Distributed 05/24/07) As hurricane season begins, the leaders in the Louisiana Water/Waste Water Response Network are traveling the state urging utilities to form partnerships that could help avert service outages.

(Distributed 05/24/07) Organizations collaborating in the America’s Wetland Conservation Corps celebrated the kickoff of the effort recently (May 18) with a coastal restoration planting project.

(Distributed 05/24/07) The LSU AgCenter will again sponsor free educational seminars on gardening during the Sixth Annual Daylily Festival and Garden Show on Saturday, June 2.

(Distributed 05/24/07) For many years pine needles have been the fuel for getting rid of underbrush in pine stands or the potential fuel for wildfires. But now the pine straw, which once was regarded only as waste, is proving to be a product with money-making potential.

(Distributed 05/25/07) Restoring the Gulf Coast comes down to questions involving finances, political will and social sciences, John M. Barry told a conference on natural resources economics and policy Monday (May 21).

(Distributed 05/25/07) Crawfish producers learned at a meeting on May 23 that investigators have few answers to questions about how the White Spot Syndrome Virus infected four crawfish ponds in South Louisiana. Officials from several agencies said they have yet to come up with a key factor.

(Distributed 05/16/07) Farmers growing soybeans this year should be on alert, but not panicked, after last week’s discovery of Asian soybean rust in a kudzu patch in Iberia Parish. “Right now, it’s just sit and watch and wait,” said Dr. Clayton Hollier, LSU AgCenter plant pathologist.

(Distributed 05/09/07) Professionals told cattle producers attending the recent LSU AgCenter Rosepine Research Station field day that they should keep animals healthy and check them frequently during the year to avoid reproductive problems.

(Distributed 05/08/07) Farmers, ranchers and rural businesses are being encouraged to apply for grant and loan funding through two of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development programs – the Value-Added Producer Grant Program and the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Program, according to Kay Lynn Tettleton, LSU AgCenter community development agent. The deadlines are May 16 and May 18.

(Distributed 05/10/07) The Northwest Louisiana Master Gardener Association has completed the first phase of a project to enhance the gardens at the Randle T. Moore Center, a majestic home built in the 1920s that now is a senior citizens center. They showed off their work at an open house May 9.