(Distributed 04/28/10) BATON ROUGE, La. – Current forest products along with other plants that can be used to produce plant-based alternative fuels can have a significant effect on Louisiana’s economy, according to a host of speakers at a recent two-day conference April 22-23.

(Distributed 04/27/10) WINNSBORO, La. – Louisiana farmers planted 150,000 acres of wheat in fall 2009 compared with 210,000 the previous year, LSU AgCenter extension agronomist Ed Twidwell told farmers and industry representatives at the annual wheat and oat field day held at the AgCenter Macon Ridge Research Station April 26.

(Distributed 04/27/10) POLLOCK, La. – A special overnight camp for 100 military kids using an Earth Day theme was held at Camp Grant Walker on April 17-18. This camp is one in a series of events across the state to help military families stay connected, said Kathleen Schexnayder, coordinator of the Louisiana Operation Military Kids program in the LSU AgCenter’s 4-H Youth Development Department.

(Distributed 04/23/10) BATON ROUGE, La. – Research scientists in every area of oats – from plant breeding and pathology to cereal chemistry, nutrition and molecular genetics – recently met in Baton Rouge for three days of meetings that covered all aspects of science, production, product development and marketing of oats.

(Distributed 04/22/10) Dr. Paul Coreil, vice chancellor of the LSU AgCenter and director of its Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service recently was honored with the Association of Southern Region Extension Directors Award for Excellence in Leadership. Coreil received the honor during the association’s meeting April 6-8 in Oklahoma City.

(Distributed 04/20/10) “To repair your credit report, you’ll need to avoid overspending and cut expenses, clean up your credit file, open a bank account and try to avoid credit repair companies,” Linda Williams said at a recent money management workshop.

(Distributed 04/16/10) SHREVEPORT, La. – Growing tomatoes in a greenhouse has many benefits, an LSU AgCenter researcher told people attending an adult learning series at Sci-Port Discovery Center April 15.

(Distributed 04/15/10) The LSU AgCenter will give the public a chance to view the roles agriculture plays in their daily lives when it hosts its annual AgMagic event April 19-25 at the Parker Coliseum on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge.

(Distributed 04/13/10) There are pros and cons in nutritive and non-nutritive sweeteners, but one thing is for sure – the American Dietetic Association says diet quality suffers when a person consumes nutritive sweeteners in excess of 25 percent of total energy.

(Distributed 04/12/10) For the fourth year in a row, students in fourth through 12th grades across the state will study and celebrate Louisiana’s wetlands during Youth Wetlands Week, which this year is April 19-23.