(Distributed 03/22/06) Approximately 1,900 Louisiana 4-H members, volunteers, parents and agents participated in the 4th annual 4-H Game with the Hornets March 18 in New Orleans. Parishes with the highest attendance were East Carroll, St. John, East Baton Rouge, Washington, Plaquemines and St. Charles. 4-H’ers were featured in various special events, including a high-five greeting of players, the color guard, a group photo with the Honeybees and a center-court recognition at halftime.

(Distributed 03/22/06) Two LSU AgCenter faculty members received awards at the annual meeting of the American Forage and Grassland Council earlier this month (March 10-14) in San Antonio, Texas.

(Distributed 03/17/06) Avoyelles Parish is known as the Cajun Crossroads and home to a diverse agricultural economy. It’s where you will find Larry Sayes doing what he does best – growing bumper crops of corn, cotton and soybeans on nearly 3,000 acres. Sayes does it so well he was named the 2006 Louisiana Farmer of the Year.

(Distributed 03/17/06) Floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the surrounding area suppressed fire ants in some areas and eradicated them in others, according to experts from the LSU AgCenter. As families move back into the devastated areas, they’re offered a unique opportunity – a red-imported-fire-ant-free landscape, said Dr. Linda Bui, an entomologist with the LSU AgCenter.

(Distributed 03/17/06) Prices for timber products should begin a slow improvement once the market absorbs the wood being salvaged from hurricane-ravaged forests, a Mississippi professor predicted at the LSU AgCenter Forestry Forum held recently in Shreveport.

(Distributed 03/17/06) An acclaimed financial advisor and author will be the keynote speaker for a special sesson on "After the Hurricanes: Rebuilding Communities and Strengthening Families" March 29 in Baton Rouge. Sponsored by the LSU AgCenter and the Credit Bureau of Baton Rouge Inc., the session will begin at 1 p.m. March 29 in the Lod Cook Conference Center on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge.

(Distributed 03/17/06) LSU AgCenter experts are preparing to monitor for Asian soybean rust in Louisiana this year as the fungus threatens to enter the state from a new direction – the west. The rust disease, which is spread by windborne spores, is feared because it’s hard to detect until it’s too late to do anything to stop it.

(Distributed 03/17/06) With only 10 certified organic growers in Louisiana, selling organically grown produce is easy. That’s what more than 65 people learned Wednesday (March 15) at a seminar held by the LSU AgCenter and its Lafayette Master Gardeners.

(Distributed 03/15/06) One gleaming ship stands out among the others in a Plaquemines Parish shipyard crowded with boats damaged by last year’s hurricanes. That vessel, the Pat-Al, went back in the water this week thanks to a device known as a Marine Travelift and the generosity of people from Alaska.

(Distributed 03/14/06) A team of LSU AgCenter scientists that released 17 major rice varieties in 14 years received the Distinguished Rice Research and Education Team Award at the meeting of the Rice Technical Working Group held recently (Feb. 26 – March 1) in Houston.