(Distributed 07/31/14) WINNSBORO, La. – Farmers are worried their operations may come under increased federal scrutiny as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers seek to clarify which waters are subject to Clean Water Act regulations.

(Distributed 07/30/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU AgCenter will host a dedication ceremony for its new Animal and Food Sciences Laboratories Building at 12:30 p.m. on Aug. 6. Gov. Bobby Jindal and East Baton Rouge Mayor-President Kip Holden will attend the dedication, along with LSU and AgCenter officials.

(Distributed 07/29/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – Summer abounds with horse shows, competitions, sales and trail rides. However, hauling horses in Louisiana’s hot, humid summers can put them at risk for dehydration, heatstroke and exhaustion.

(Distributed 07/29/14) ST. MARTINVILLE, La. – With planting season around the corner, sugarcane farmers learned about new varieties and an automated planting machine demonstrated at the St. Martin, Lafayette and St. Landry parishes sugarcane field day held July 25.

(Distributed 07/29/14) BATON ROUGE, LA. – With more than 60 species of mosquitoes in Louisiana and mild temperatures most of the year anytime is a good time to be bitten, said LSU AgCenter entomologist Kristen Healey. But right now is an especially important time to be on the lookout for these pesky predators.

BATON ROUGE, La. – Kathy Conerly has been named executive secretary of Louisiana FFA. In her new position, she hopes to expand programs and use FFA to promote agriculture to Louisiana's next generation. Conerly succeeds Ronald Mayeux, who passed away in April and was the executive secretary for seven years. FFA is affiliated with both the LSU AgCenter and the LSU College of Agriculture.

(Distributed 07/28/14) AVERY ISLAND, La. – The Marsh Maneuvers 4-H summer camp is in its 25th year of teaching students about the ecology, anthropology, geology and hydrology of coastal Louisiana. For four weeks, 4-H students from different parishes attend a five-day camp at Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge to learn about the coastal environment and its precarious future.

(Distributed 07/28/14) CROWLEY, La. – Dustin Harrell, LSU AgCenter agronomist, has been selected to become the next Louisiana rice extension specialist. He will start the new job in January with the retirement of the existing rice specialist, Johnny Saichuk.

(Distributed 07/25/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – When a group of LSU and LSU AgCenter professors visited Brazil universities last spring, it was more of a fact-finding mission. But recent developments have proven the trip was well worth the effort, according to Lawrence Datnoff, head of the AgCenter Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology.

(Distributed 07/25/14) It’s not too late in the warm season to add coleus to the Louisiana landscape.

(Distributed 07/25/14) HAMMOND, La. What’s the most popular summer-blooming tree in Louisiana? Crape myrtles. Pretty easy question. Louisianians plant many crape myrtles in their landscapes every year. The lovely, long-lasting blooms make them attractive.

(Distributed 07/24/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – Members of the Louisiana 4-H Food and Fitness Board from throughout the state held their summer meeting in Baton Rouge July 15-17, where they were able to get some hands-on experience and career information from food industry representatives, said LSU AgCenter 4-H regional coordinator Lanette Hebert.

(Distributed 07/23/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU AgCenter researchers are beginning to look at baits containing sodium nitrite as a way to control the feral hog populations in the state.

(Distributed 07/24/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – Two high school agricultural science teachers spent a week at LSU preparing to teach a college-level course. Kelly Becnel and Danielle Newsom will teach Renewable Natural Resources 1001, which is the first course to be offered as part of the LSU College of Agriculture’s dual enrollment program.

(Distributed 07/24/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – Satellites in space may be far away, but two Japanese engineers are developing ways to use them to improve their country's rice crop.

(Distributed 07/23/14) PALMETTO, La. – Rice farmers and crop consultants heard from a wide variety of LSU AgCenter experts at the St. Landry Parish rice and soybean field tour.

(Video: 07/23/14) A new grain sorghum variety coupled with a new herbicide will help farmers control grassy weeds in their fields, but an insect could damage this year's sorghum crop. LSU AgCenter correspondent Tobie Blanchard has this report. (Runtime: 1:26 seconds)

(Video: 07/23/14) Louisiana's corn and cotton crops have benefited from good weather and few disease or insect problems during their growing season. LSU AgCenter correspondent Tobie Blanchard has an update. (Runtime: 1:28 seconds)

(Distributed 07/23/14) ALEXANDRIA, La. – Testing soybean varieties or studying cotton fertility in the heat of the Louisiana summer might not appeal to some LSU students. But three visiting scholars from Honduras have been doing just that at the LSU AgCenter Dean Lee Research and Extension Center in Alexandria, and they say it has been the experience of a lifetime.

(Distributed 07/23/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – July means hot, humid weather in Louisiana. Horse owners need to take steps to ensure their horses stay cool and comfortable, according to LSU AgCenter equine specialist Neely Walker.

(Video 07/23/14) Tall stalks of sugarcane are a common sight around south Louisiana in midsummer, but this year stalks are shorter than normal. LSU AgCenter correspondent Tobie Blanchard reports that cool weather we enjoy doesn't have much benefit to sugarcane. (Runtime: 1:43 seconds)

(Distributed 07/08/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – Citrus harvest is still months away, but this year’s crop in Louisiana faces two growing threats – citrus canker and citrus greening.

(Distributed 07/22/14) COLLINSTON, La. – Members of the Morehouse Parish Black Farmers Association and the National Black Growers’ Council, along with others interested in agriculture, braved torrential rains to learn new information at the 13th annual Black Farmers Field Day at Harper Armstrong’s farm on July 18.

(Distributed 07/22/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – Prices for long-grain rice, which makes up 85 percent of Louisiana's rice crop, are projected to drop this year, said LSU AgCenter economist Mike Salassi.

(Distributed 07/21/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – The path to a healthier lifestyle sometimes begins with small steps. But for low-income people whose budgets and food options are often limited, taking those first steps can be difficult.

(Distributed 07/21/14) CHASE. La. – The LSU AgCenter sweet potato field day will be held August 7 at the Sweet Potato Research Station in Chase, beginning with registration at 7:45 a.m.

(Distributed 07/18/14) ALEXANDRIA, La. – Louisiana farmers got an update on a variety of research projects at the LSU AgCenter Dean Lee Research and Extension Center's 13th annual row crop field day. The event, held on July 17, attracted about 200 attendees.

(Distributed 07/18/14) Scarlet sage is scientifically known as Salvia coccinea. This is a species of salvia that looks like a perennial but is generally not cold-hardy in Louisiana. It is a re-seeding annual in the majority of the state but can be an “in-ground” perennial in warmer summer locations.

(Distributed 07/18/14) HAMMOND, La. – July is Smart Irrigation Month across the country. It’s a program of the Irrigation Association to inform industry professionals and homeowners about proper irrigation in the landscape.

(Distributed 07/18/14) CHASE, La. – Following several years with decreased acres and growers getting out of the industry, this year looks a lot better for the Louisiana sweet potato industry, said Tara Smith, research coordinator of the LSU AgCenter Sweet Potato Research Station.

(Distributed 07/17/14) RAYVILLE, La. – Rice farmers heard from LSU AgCenter experts on July 17 talking about their research and the 2014 rice crop. Johnny Saichuk, LSU AgCenter rice specialist, said the crop is doing well, but he doubts it will be as good as last year’s.

(Distributed 07/17/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU AgCenter 4-H Youth Development is hosting a teen leadership camp on the LSU campus July 28-30.

(Distributed 07/15/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – Teachers interested in starting gardens at their schools this year attended a daylong workshop at the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens at Burden on July 9 to gain a basic knowledge and the equipment needed for success.

(Distributed 07/17/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – Although signup is months away, agricultural landowners and producers need to begin planning for decisions they will have to make because of the new farm bill, according to LSU AgCenter economist Mike Salassi.

(Distributed 07/17/14) LAKE CHARLES, La. – Results from the 45th annual Louisiana 4-H and FFA State Horse Show held July 8-12, 2014, have been released.

(Distributed 07/16/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – Louisiana rice farmers should be on the lookout for Mexican rice borers and stinkbugs, according to LSU AgCenter entomologist Mike Stout.

(Distributed 07/16/14) ST. GABRIEL, La. – Louisiana sugarcane farmers are finding a new weed in their fields, LSU AgCenter weed scientist Jim Griffin said at the annual AgCenter sugar field day on July 16.

(Distributed 07/15/14) WINNSBORO, La. – Growers in northeast Louisiana toured fellow growers’ fields and research plots at the LSU AgCenter Macon Ridge Research Station on July 10 to get a better feel for this year’s crop.

(Video: 07/10/14) Louisiana’s rice crop is midway through its growing season, but weather has caused delays. LSU AgCenter correspondent Tobie Blanchard has an update on the crop and a look at new technology that can improve the way farmers grow rice. (Runtime: 1:30 seconds)

(Distributed 07/14/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – Sugarcane aphids have launched an earlier, more severe attack on this year's grain sorghum crop in Louisiana. LSU AgCenter entomologist David Kerns said the aphids have been a sugarcane pest in Louisiana since 1999, but last year became a grain sorghum pest for the first time in the United States.

(Distributed 07/14/14) WINNSBORO, La. – Corn farmers should be looking for a damaging fungal disease, Southern rust, which has been found recently in Louisiana. “Some years we see it. Some years we don’t,” said Trey Price, plant pathologist at the LSU AgCenter Macon Ridge Research Station.

(Distributed 07/11/14) CROWLEY, La. – Farmers voiced concerns about a proposed revision to the Clean Water Act in a meeting on July 9 with representatives of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. More than 130 people turned out for the session with some traveling from north Louisiana and Texas.

(Distributed 07/11/14) LAKE ARTHUR, La. – Rice prices have fallen because of a big jump in Arkansas rice acreage, an LSU AgCenter agricultural economist said at the Vermilion Parish Rice Field Day on July 8.

(Distributed 07/11/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – When people get sick, they usually call their doctor. Louisiana residents and extension personnel can do the same thing when their plants get sick, thanks to the LSU AgCenter's Plant Diagnostic Center. There, director of the center and "plant doctor" Raj Singh can examine samples and help with just about any plant health problem.

(Distributed 07/09/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – With a number of its tenants now selling products to major stores and distributors, the LSU AgCenter Food Incubator continues to draw interest among people looking to launch their own food enterprises. The incubator provides tenants kitchen space, processing equipment and assistance from AgCenter marketing and food science experts.

(Distributed 07/09/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – A group of north Baton Rouge students recently took advantage of an opportunity to pick their dinner at the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens at Burden while getting paid in the process, thanks to East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Kip Holden and the LSU AgCenter.

(Distributed 07/07/14) BATON ROUGE, La. — The LSU AgCenter LaHouse Resource Center will offer two Lead Certified Renovator Training courses in July. The course will first be held on July 22 at LaHouse in Baton Rouge and then on July 28 at the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training in Natchitoches.

(Distributed 07/07/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU AgCenter LaHouse Resource Center will conduct a mold control and remediation training course July 29-31 at the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training in Natchitoches. It will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. each day.

(Distributed 07/11/14) The Bandana series of lantanas from Syngenta Flowers have been out for a few years now. These are attractive plants and offer new options in lantana selection for commercial and residential landscapes.

(Distributed 07/03/14) The industry standard in rudbeckia is the Goldsturm variety, which is widely available in Louisiana. Normally, this variety flowers twice during the year. A good bloom occurs in late spring through midsummer, and you can get some fall flowers, too.

(Distributed 07/03/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – Tighter supplies of cattle and hogs combined with improved domestic demand are keeping prices high, said LSU AgCenter economist Ross Pruitt.

(Distributed 07/11/14) HAMMOND, La. – Lantanas continue to be one of the most popular herbaceous perennials for Louisiana landscapes. Many varieties – some old and some new – offer a multitude of growth forms and flower colors.

(Distributed 07/03/14) HAMMOND, La. – More varieties and sizes of crape myrtles are available than many people realize. You can choose from well over 100 varieties with more being added each year. Unfortunately, due to demand, only about 10-15 varieties are readily available at garden centers around Louisiana.

(Distributed 07/03/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU AgCenter will host an e-commerce seminar in Mansura from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. July 24. The event, which is sponsored by the Connect My Louisiana initiative, will feature information on 3D printing, building online businesses and social media.

(Distributed 07/02/14) GRAMERCY, La. – Growing soybeans in rotation with sugarcane is not new to south Louisiana, but doing so at a profit is causing interest to increase with some growers, according to Al Orgeron, LSU AgCenter agent in St. James Parish.

(Distributed 07/01/14) BATON ROUGE, La. – Because of the increasing number of confirmed cases of vesicular stomatitis, animal health officials with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry are requiring additional documentation on horses entering Louisiana from any state that has confirmed cases of the disease, according to LSU AgCenter equine specialist Neely Walker.

(Distributed 07/01/14) ST. GABRIEL, La. – The LSU AgCenter’s 32nd annual sugarcane field day will be held on July 16 at the Sugar Research Station near St. Gabriel, beginning with registration at 8 a.m.