(Distributed 04/13/11) LSU AgCenter agents in northeast Louisiana are conducting classes in detention centers in Franklin, Richland, Morehouse and Union parishes to help prisoners prepare for reentering society.

(Distributed 04/28/11) The LSU AgCenter’s Hammond Research Station will hold an open house from 9 a.m. to noon May 21.

(Distributed 04/26/11) CROWLEY, La. – A stored grain pest management workshop will be held May 10 with experts from five states. The clinic will be at the Acadia Parish Extension Office, 157 Cherokee Drive, in Crowley from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.

(Distributed 04/26/11) PONCHATOULA, La. – The LSU AgCenter youth wetlands program staff and Ponchatoula High School FFA members taught elementary students the value of wetlands at their Wetlands Celebration Day on April 21 as part of Youth Wetlands Week.

(Distributed 04/25/11) Fourteen 4-H students were winners in the State 4-H Commodity Ambassador Contest on April 19 on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge. In all, 71 4-H’ers from across the state competed in the chicken, egg, seafood, sugar and turkey contests.

(Distributed 04/25/11) MANSFIELD, La. – Chesapeake Energy Corp. awarded two students laptop computers at an awards banquet April 19, honoring the winners of the Discovering Tomorrow’s Leaders contest in DeSoto Parish.

(Distributed 04/21/11) With cattle prices at historical highs and many families struggling economically, cattle theft has the potential to increase, warns LSU AgCenter extension beef specialist Allen Nipper. He offers tips for cattle producers to prevent theft.

(Distributed 04/12/11) JEANERETTE, La. – An LSU AgCenter study has shown that cattle can produce acceptably tender beef with a Brahman influence exceeding the national recommendation, a researcher said at the April 9 Acadiana Cattle Producers Spring Field Day held at the Iberia Research Station.

(Distributed 04/19/11) Louisiana’s sweet potato farmers soon will be planting their crop. And for most, the transplants, or “slips,” they put in the ground will be from seed roots that had their start at the LSU AgCenter Sweet Potato Research Station at Chase.

(Distributed 04/19/11) KINGSTON, La. – Typically grown as a cash crop in southeast Louisiana, strawberries are flourishing in DeSoto Parish.

(Distributed 04/19/11) Industry professionals and elected officials learned about the work at the LSU AgCenter Hammond Research Station at an appreciation event on April 14.

(Distributed 04/18/11) If mom's a gardener or just likes flowering plants, you can shop for her at the Master Gardeners' Mother’s Day plant sale from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 7 at the LSU AgCenter Burden Center.

(Distributed 04/13/11) The LSU AgCenter has scheduled a second biodiesel workshop for May 11 due to overwhelming response to the workshop scheduled a week earlier, according to Bill Carney, LSU AgCenter director of the Callegari Center.

(Distributed 04/13/11) The LSU AgCenter will conduct a two-day workshop at the Vidalia Conference Center June 9-10 for entrepreneurs interested in business opportunities related to paddling and canoeing.

(Distributed 04/08/11) A 13-year-old federal program to combat Formosan subterranean termites in New Orleans’ French Quarter is winding down, according to officials. The program called Operation Full Stop featured treating French Quarter properties for termites through professional pest management companies paid with funds provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service.

(Distributed 04/06/11) The LSU AgCenter will host a one-day comprehensive workshop on how to make biodiesel fuel from used vegetable oil on May 4 at the Callegari Environmental Center in Baton Rouge.

(Distributed 04/01/11) Because of cuts in state funding and to make more efficient use of resources, the LSU AgCenter has begun phasing out research programs at three of its 20 research stations. The three are the Coastal Area Research Station in Plaquemines Parish, the Rosepine Research Station in Vernon Parish and the Calhoun Research Station in Ouachita Parish.