Dr. Mike Strain, Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry; Stuart Gardner, U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resource Conservation Service, and Dr. Paul Coreil, LSU AgCenter vice-chancellor and director of the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service, discuss the future of the state’s livestock industry during a break at a recent Louisiana Agribusiness Summit Forum in Alexandria (Photo by Johnny Morgan. Click on photo for downloadable image.).

ALEXANDRIA, La. -- Improving the outlook for the Louisiana beef industry and encouraging young people to enter agriculture were topics of discussion at the Louisiana Agribusiness Summit Forum held recently in Alexandria.

The forum was the fourth of a series throughout the state to hear from state leaders in agriculture and agribusiness about ways to improve the industry.

“We must double food production by 2030 to feed the world, but how we do it?” asked Dr. Mike Strain, Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry, in an effort to provoke thought on the issues.

Strain said he’s in favor of increased research so Louisiana is involved in exporting food, not importing.

The commissioner said agriculture is an $8.3 billion industry in the state with more than 60 percent of the nation’s grain going through the port of New Orleans.

“This is how important agriculture is to the state of Louisiana,” Strain said. “About 85 percent of the total surface area of this state is in agriculture, forestry, aquaculture and fisheries. That means that our footprint of buildings, roads and other infrastructure only takes up 15 percent.”

Dr. Patrick Jordan, president of the Agribusiness Council of Louisiana, said the meeting brought together agricultural leaders to look for ways to answer some of the hard questions facing the industry.

“This is the fourth forum that we’ve sponsored,” Jordan said. “In September, we will have a retreat in Mandeville to look at what we’ve done so far. We want to see what we’re doing right and wrong in agriculture and determine our next steps.”

Unlike pork and poultry, beef is not sold by contract, said Jeff Gillespie, LSU AgCenter economist who discussed the role of strategic alliances in the beef industry.

“When I speak about strategic alliances, this is a little bi

Jeff Gillespie, LSU AgCenter economist and the keynote speaker at a recent Louisiana Agribusiness Summit Forum, discussed the role of strategic alliances in the beef industry. (Photo by Johnny Morgan. Click on photo for downloadable image.)

t different from the formal contracts that are used in other industries like with hogs and poultry,” Gillespie said. “Strategic alliances tend to be a bit loser kinds of arrangements.”

Gillespie cited several reasons why the beef industry doesn’t operate with grower contracts.

“First, size of operation is a factor,,” he said. “There are many small operations with around 20 cows, and contractors are not looking for that. Also many of these operators don’t sell very often, so contracts are not feasible.”

Louisiana is a cow-calf state, said Paul Morris, a retired LSU AgCenter county agent who participated on a panel that discussed how the Louisiana livestock industry is meeting economic challenges.

The LSU AgCenter’s Louisiana Young Ag Producer Program is designed to bring more young people into agriculture, said Bradley Leger, who works with the program for the LSU AgCenter.

“We wanted to get young people in their junior or senior year of high school thinking about production agriculture,” he said.

Leger said 14 students were selected for the year-long program that began in July. They first will attend a summer institute on the LSU campus and then be paired with a mentor during the coming school year to learn more about their interest area.

The first class will graduate from the program next summer at the Louisiana Farm Bureau state convention in New Orleans.

State Representative Sam Little said he is one of only two state legislators who are actively involved in agriculture.

“I’m a row-crop farmer, and we have one dairy farmer in the legislature,” Little said. “My challenge to you is to elect more rural legislators and to make sure you know what they are doing when you send them to represent you,” he told the group.

Louisiana is facing some major budget challenges, said Paul Coreil, LSU AgCenter vice chancellor. But the AgCenter is addressing agriculture’s challenges.

“We’re using our research station resources to improve tenderness in beef, and we’re looking at ways to improve beef production in a hot and humid environment such as ours,” Coreil said. “There are many other areas that we are researching in order to improve the livestock industry in Louisiana.”