News Release Distributed 01/22/16
BATON ROUGE, La. – Guillermo Scaglia, a beef cattle researcher at the LSU AgCenter Iberia Research Station in Jeanerette, and Stan Dutile, an LSU AgCenter extension agent in Lafayette Parish, each received the Merit Award from the American Forage and Grassland Council.
According to the AFGC, the Merit Award is presented to individuals who have made important contributions to some phase of forage and grassland agriculture. Recipients have earned recognition among their colleagues for work and productivity in research, teaching, extension, production or industrial development.
Scaglia has studied the effects of management strategies on productivity and sustainability of forage systems for growing beef cattle. He and a team of scientists recently received funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative to gather comprehensive information on grass-fed beef production.
Dutile conducts beef and forage educational programs in a three-parish area. Part of his responsibilities include ryegrass variety demonstrations and pasture weed-control projects.
LSU AgCenter forage specialist Ed Twidwell said Dutile’s forage work has benefited cattle producers.
“He is very knowledgeable in both livestock and forage production and always makes sure that a forage topic is on the program at one his beef cattle meetings or field days,” Twidwell said.
The AFGC is an international organization dedicated to advancing the use of forages as a prime feed source for cattle.
Tobie Blanchard