February 12, 2010

Please continue to use this method of communication to keep up with Extension Service-related policies and programs. Due to the length of this e-Directions, it has been divided into sections. Click on the section you would like to read

New Faculty Members
REE Interim Appointments
NIFA Plans to Release Agriculture and Food Research Initiative RFA in February
Producers May Begin Applying for SURE Program at FSA County Offices on Jan. 4, 2010
eXtension Begins Exciting Partnership Supporting Military Families
4-H Clubhouse Team Wins Award
Entomologist receives 2010 Achievement Award from National Sweet Potato Council
AgCenter wins Conservation Communicator Award

New Faculty Members

I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce three new LSU AgCenter Extension specialists, Dr. Karl Harborth, Ms. Neely Heidorn and Dr. John Kruse. Dr. Harborth will be the new Extension beef specialist and Ms. Heidorn will be the new Extension equine specialist. Dr. Kruse will be the new cotton/field grain specialist. Below you will see a short bio on each.

•  Dr. Karl Harborth will be joining the faculty of the LSU School of Animal Sciences on March 1, 2010, as an Extension beef specialist. Dr. Harborth grew up in the beef industry and the 4-H program in Texas and earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in animal science at Texas A & M. He earned a Ph.D. in beef cattle nutrition and management at Kansas State University and is currently employed as a regional beef cattle extension specialist in Kansas. Dr. Harborth will assume statewide responsibility for the Master Cattleman program as well as participate in all other beef extension activities in Louisiana.
   
• Ms. Neely Heidorn will be joining the faculty of the LSU School of Animal Sciences on June 1, 2010, as an Extension equine specialist. Ms. Heidorn grew up in California and has participated in the 4-H equine program for many years. She earned both B.S. and M.S. degrees in animal science with emphasis in equine studies from Cal Poly. She also has an associate’s degree as a registered veterinary technician and is currently completing requirements for a Ph.D. in animal science with emphasis in reproductive physiology. Ms. Heidorn will assume responsibility for the Master Horseman program as well as providing leadership for all 4-H equine activities. 
   
• Dr. John Kruse has been appointed assistant professor/specialist for cotton and feed grains Extension educational programs. He will maintain offices both at the LSU AgCenter’s Dean Lee Research and Extension Center and at the Scott Center in Winnsboro. Dr. Kruse will assume his job responsibilities with the LSU AgCenter effective February 15, 2010. He will be providing statewide leadership for the state’s cotton, corn and grain sorghum educational programs. 

Dr. Kruse brings extensive experience in row crop agriculture to this extension program. He has worked the past several years as a research agronomist in private industry. He completed his graduate degrees at the University of Georgia at Athens. Dr. Kruse has conducted and been involved with research and educational programs in cotton, soybeans, corn, grain sorghum, turf grass and wheat. He will be responsible for implementing a statewide extension educational program and will provide oversight for the cotton, corn and grain sorghum extension programs. His extension educational program will focus primarily on, but not be limited to, on-farm demonstrations, providing leadership for statewide extension education programs for cotton and grain crops using best management practices (BMPs) and problem-solving using research-based recommendations and information.

He can be reached by contacting the Dean Lee Research and Extension Center (318-427-4424) or the Scott Center at Winnsboro (318-435-2903). Please feel free to contact Dr. Kruse for any information or assistance related to cotton or feed grain production.

(top)

REE Interim Appointments

Secretary Vilsack recently appointed Molly Jahn to serve in addition to her position with the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) as the acting Under Secretary for REE and Roger Beachy to serve as USDA’s Chief Scientist. Both Jahn and Beachy will report directly to the Secretary and work as a team to keep REE and NIFA moving forward.

Source: USDA

(top)

NIFA Plans to Release Agriculture and Food Research Initiative RFA in February

USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) expects to release its request for applications (RFA) for the 2010 Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) in February 2010 and will commit up to $800 million in funding for new grants, contingent on annual appropriations in following years.

AFRI is NIFA’s flagship competitive-grant program and was established under section 7406 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, otherwise known as the 2008 Farm Bill. AFRI will support work in the following priority areas: plant health and production and plant products; animal health and production and animal products; food safety, nutrition and health; renewable energy, natural resources and environment; agriculture systems and technology; and agriculture economics and rural communities. Programs focused on these areas will use a disciplinary-based approach to building a foundation of knowledge critical for solving current and future problems.

Within these priority areas, AFRI will support interdisciplinary, multi-functional projects in five “societal challenge” areas to achieve significant and measurable outcomes and achieving goals. The five goals include:

1. Keep American agriculture competitive while ending world hunger

2. Improve nutrition and end child obesity

3. Improve food safety for all Americans

4. Secure America’s energy future through renewable biofuels

5. Mitigate and adapt agriculture to variations in climate

NIFA will issue a series of RFAs to address these program areas. Grants in 2010 will be larger in size with funding up to $25 million and longer in duration with five year grants awarded that are eligible, in some cases, for renewal upon achieving specific goals. NIFA expects such grants will lead to greater collaboration among institutions and organizations and will integrate basic and applied research with deliberate education or extension programs.

For full details, click here.

Source: USDA

(top)

Producers May Begin Applying for SURE Program at FSA County Offices on Jan. 4, 2010

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently announced that USDA has implemented the new Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments program (SURE) in accordance with the 2008 Farm Bill. Vilsack also encouraged producers to visit their USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) county office beginning on January 4, 2010, to participate in the program if they suffered crop production losses during the 2008 crop year.

"This program is an important component of the farm safety net and will provide financial assistance to producers who have suffered crop losses due to natural disasters," said Vilsack. "Producers will receive payments beginning in January, in time to help them with planning for next year's crop."

SURE provides crop disaster assistance payments to eligible producers on farms that have incurred crop production or crop quality losses. The program takes into consideration crop losses on all crops grown by a producer nationwide. SURE provides assistance in an amount equal to 60 percent of the difference between the SURE farm guarantee and total farm revenue. The farm guarantee is based on the amount of crop insurance and Non-insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) coverage on the farm. Total farm revenue takes into account the actual value of production on the farm as well as insurance indemnities and certain farm program payments.

To be eligible for SURE, producers must have suffered at least a 10 percent production loss on a crop of economic significance. In addition, producers must meet the risk management purchase requirement by either obtaining a policy or plan of insurance, under the Federal Crop Insurance Act or NAP coverage, for all economically significant crops. For 2008 crops, producers had the opportunity to obtain a waiver of the risk management purchase requirement through a buy-in provision. Producers considered socially disadvantaged, a beginning farmer or rancher, or a limited-resource farmer may be eligible for SURE without a policy or plan of insurance or NAP coverage.

In addition to meeting the risk management purchase requirement, a producer must have a farming interest physically located in a county that was declared a primary disaster county or contiguous county by the Agriculture Secretary under a Secretarial Disaster Designation. Regardless of a Secretarial Disaster Designation, individual producers may also be eligible for SURE if the actual production on the farm is less than 50 percent of the normal production on the farm due to a natural disaster. For SURE, a farm is defined as all crops in which a producer had an interest nationwide.

Source: http://www.fsa.usda.gov

(top)

eXtension Begins Exciting Partnership Supporting Military Families

eXtension has submitted a proposal regarding a Cooperative Agreement made available through the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) with funding ($2.5M) from the Department of Defense Office of Military Community & Family Policy.

Learn about this exciting new opportunity...

Source: www.extension.org

(top)

4-H Clubhouse Team Wins Award

The Louisiana 4-H Kids Clubhouse Team won the Epsilon Sigma Phi State Team Award. Team members included Katina Hester, Janet Fox, Mark Tassin, Randy Labauve, Sandy Fiser, Elma Sue McCallum, Carol B. Remy, Frankie Gould, Karol Osborne, Fred J. Piazza, Megan Smith, André Brock and Elizabeth Lynn. The main objectives of the 4-H Clubhouse Web site are to market the 4-H brand, recruit new members, retain members and provide learning tools to support the 4-H program in Louisiana. The site also serves to promote the 4-H program and the variety of different activities offered.

The Louisiana 4-H Clubhouse Web site serves as a resource for youth grades 4-6 and for their parents and volunteers. It also serves to educate and inform potential 4-H members and parents. The youth section of the Louisiana 4-H Web site needed a different approach. This meant stepping away from the organization use of the Content Management System template used by all LSU AgCenter departments.

Brightly colored, graphic-rich images were incorporated with interactive features and games to make the site as attractive to the target audience as possible. In the year before the new site was launched, the 4-H Web site had little contribution of content and low site stats. Since the Web site redesign, interest in the new Web site has increased along with content production and site statistics. In November and December 2007, the 4-H Web site received 9,454 page views; with the full implementation of the new designs, there was a 235% increase to 22,183 page views within the same period in 2008. In addition, faculty and staff have begun to look at the Web site as a medium for training and education for volunteers and 4-H members. An increase in online educational tools is planned including the introduction of additional Flash components and Moodle courses.

Source: Janet Fox

(top)

Entomologist receives 2010 Achievement Award from National Sweet Potato Council

Abner Hammond, professor of entomology at the LSU AgCenter, has been honored with the 2010 Distinguished Achievement Award from the National Sweet Potato Research Council. This award is given for long-term and distinguished service to the sweet potato industry. Hammond specializes in management of sweet potato insect pests, especially the sweet potato weevil.

After receiving his Ph.D. in entomology from LSU in 1967 and a brief stint as a research scientist in Alabama, Hammond joined the entomology faculty at LSU in 1968, where he has remained since. Hammond’s extension appointment focuses on pest management in sweet potatoes and making recommendations to the Louisiana industry.

In 2004, he was invited to serve as a distinguished lecturer and expert in control of sweet potato pests by the Japan International Cooperative Agency. He has published more than 125 research and extension articles and written four book chapters. He holds one patent jointly with colleagues for the Bienville sweet potato, which was awarded in 2004. Hammond was among the team of scientists to receive the Tipton Team Award from the LSU AgCenter in 2002 and was recognized as “Mr. Yam” in 2003 by the directors of the Opelousas, La., Yambilee Festival.

Source: Linda Foster Benedict

(top)

AgCenter wins Conservation Communicator Award

The LSU AgCenter was named 2009 Conservation Communicator of the Year in the 46th annual Governor’s Conservation Achievement Recognition Program conducted by the Louisiana Wildlife Federation. The award will be presented to the LSU AgCenter for the production “Wet Work” and its effective dissemination to numerous educators and thousands of students throughout the state. “Wet Work” is an informational video series about wetland issues used in conjunction with the 4-H Youth Wetlands Education and Outreach program. The program is designed to heighten students’ awareness of Louisiana’s wetland loss through an organized educational program of outreach, empowerment and advocacy. Members of the team are Hilary Collis, Craig Gautreaux, Randy LaBauve, and Ashley Mullens.

The award will be presented at Cypress Bend Resort at Toledo Bend on February 27.

The Youth Wetlands Week program is primarily funded by the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. Other sponsors of the Youth Wetlands Week school curriculum are America’s Wetland Conservation Corps, Sea Grant Louisiana, Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program and Louisiana 4-H.

Source: Randy LaBauve

(top)