Please click on the image above to view the PDF version of the 2012 Ouchita Parish Profile.

Program Highlights

4-H Youth and Family Development
Nutrition Programs are designed to help citizens increase their nutrition knowledge, gain skills in healthy food preparation and improve eating habits. The Nutrition Connections Coa-lition is working to foster collaboration among agencies related to nutrition education. Edu-cational programs include series of classes for children and adults on nutrition and health. Educational efforts such as Family Nutrition Nights are utilized to bring parents together with children to promote healthy lifestyles through hands-on educational activities. The Germ Cave exhibit is used to teach proper hand washing to prevent foodborne illness and the spread of germs. The Traveling Kitchen curriculum teaches basic food preparation skills to parents to equip them with skills to prepare healthy meals for their families.

Ouachita 4-H educates youth on nutrition, wetlands and agriculture through after-school programs, workshops, demonstrations and contest. 1600 students participated in Youth Wetland Awareness about various types of wetland found throughout the state. Youth learned how to become more involved with wetland conservation. The growing rate of child-hood obesity concerns many parents. 1475 youth toured the Body Walk exhibit on the im-portance of eating healthy.

Agriculture & Natural Resources
The Master Gardener Program has 65 active members, totaled over 3500 volunteer hours of community service and 716 continuing education hours. The NELAMG Association the Ag Expo Horticulture Seminar (220 attended), monitored the demonstration garden ar-eas at Calhoun Research Station, and conducted many educational workshops and pro-grams for regional clientele.

The Formosan Subterranean Termite continues to spread throughout Ouachita Parish. Approximately 25 pest control operators were trained to identify insect pests so the correct control measures might be applied. The spread of the Formosan Subterranean Termite is monitored by placement of light and wooden bait traps. Reports are submitted to pest con-trol operators, parish web site, LSU AgCenter’s Department of Entomology and Louisiana Department of Agriculture. The federal funding for this project has ended and there are no plans to continue monitoring the spread of this pest.

Ouachita Parish currently has over 54,000 acres in crop production. Grain crops, such as corn and soybeans, have increased over the last few years. Demonstration variety plots of corn and soybean were conducted. Results from demonstration plots were used by pro-ducers to determine which varieties perform best in this area.

Who we reach:  

46,000 - Youth, 30,250 Youth Development, 15,750 Nutrition, Youth Wetlands & Ag Alley , 19,979 - Adults, 8,763 Ag & Natural Resources, 11,216 Nutrition, Parents Pre- paring for Success & Ag Alley.

How we reach them:  

4-H Clubs, Class Series, School Enrichment, Demonstrations, Workshops, Newsletters, Website, TV, Talk Show, Publications, Talk Radio, and Field Days.

Parish Facts

LSU AgCenter County Agents provide research-based information on plant, wild-life, aquaculture and animal enterprises to Ouachita Parish clientele. The 2011 total dollar amount from these commodities were:

• Plant enterprises - $42,089,813.
• Aquaculture/Wildlife - $2,318,094.
• Animal enterprises - $31,303,823.

Data from the Louisiana Ag Summary Web site: LSUAgCenter.com/agsummary

Population - 153,720
Land area (square miles) - 610.41
Persons under 18 years old - 26.3%
Persons 65 years old and over - 12.3%
Median household income - $39,823
Persons below poverty - 21.0%

Local Issues & Plans for this year.

1. Strengthen families and communities.   

• Offer Family Nutrition Night events at schools, churches and community organizations.
• Promote the online Eat Smart course to School Food Service personnel.
• Offer classes promoting positive behavior change related to nutrition and health.
• Promote the Smart Bodies Childhood Obesity Prevention Program.

2. Increase awareness of health and environmental issues for 4-H Youth.   

• Utilize the LSU AgCenter’s Body Walk exhibit of choosing healthy eating lifestyle and incorporating exercise into daily routines.
• Incorporate environmental programs during club meetings, Earth Day, Ag Alley, Ag Adventures, newsletters and after school enrichment

3. Increase productivity and profitability of Louisiana Agriculture.  

• Conduct variety demonstrations on corn, soybeans and cotton
• Increase number of demonstration gardens at Calhoun Research Station
• Increase activity in community and school gardening projects
• Conduct Soybean Fungicide Rating Demonstration Plot
• Recruit guest speakers at monthly cattlemen’s meetings
• Increase 4-H livestock exhibitor’s knowledge of personal farm finances