(Distributed 05/24/07) By June, many of the final harvests of spring vegetables are under way, and some spring rows are bare from earlier picking. This month, however, still offers opportunities before summer gets so hot you have second thoughts about yard work, according to LSU AgCenter horticulturist Dr. Tom Koske.

(Distributed 05/24/07) As hurricane season begins, the leaders in the Louisiana Water/Waste Water Response Network are traveling the state urging utilities to form partnerships that could help avert service outages.

(Distributed 05/24/07) Organizations collaborating in the America’s Wetland Conservation Corps celebrated the kickoff of the effort recently (May 18) with a coastal restoration planting project.

(Distributed 05/24/07) A major rose project at the LSU AgCenter is a cooperative effort with Texas A&M University and Texas nurseries to study Earth Kind roses.

(Distributed 05/23/07) Southwestern Electric Power Co. of Shreveport has pledged a $10,000 endowment with the Louisiana 4-H Foundation that will positively impact 4-H’ers in six parishes. SWEPCO 4-H Leadership Scholarships will be given annually to select 4-H members to attend 4-H Camp at the Grant Walker 4-H Educational Center near Pollock, said Eric Eskew, executive director of the Louisiana 4-H Foundation.

(Distributed 05/22/07) The LSU AgCenter’s annual field day at the Northeast Research Station in St. Joseph will be Wednesday, June 13.

(Distributed 05/21/07) Having his farm chosen as one of the 13 model farms across the state in the LSU AgCenter’s Master Farmer program helps Gary Lirette of Marthaville “do the right things.”

(Distributed 05/17/07) Nearly 1,000 4-H members and volunteer leaders will convene in Baton Rouge on Tuesday, June 5, at 10 a.m. as part of the sixth annual 4-H Day at the Capitol. The event will give 4-H’ers an opportunity to visit with their legislators and see how state government conducts its business while the legislature is in session.

(Distributed 05/17/07) A poultry demonstration facility at the LSU AgCenter’s Hill Farm Research Station at Homer is moving closer to completion as equipment is arriving and being installed in two new commercial-sized broiler houses. The houses, which are being built and equipped with funds from the LSU AgCenter, poultry companies and other donors, will be used to test and demonstrate different types of equipment.

(Distributed 05/16/07) Farmers growing soybeans this year should be on alert, but not panicked, after last week’s discovery of Asian soybean rust in a kudzu patch in Iberia Parish. “Right now, it’s just sit and watch and wait,” said Dr. Clayton Hollier, LSU AgCenter plant pathologist.