(07/11/25) HAMMOND, La. — In the sports world, a hat trick refers to one player scoring three goals in a single game. LSU AgCenter researcher Christine Coker has big goals in mind as she wears three hats, one being Louisiana’s new state vegetable specialist.

Working out of the AgCenter’s Hammond Research Station, Coker’s other two positions include extension agent in general horticulture for southeast Louisiana and research coordinator at the station. This marks her most recent stop at a Southeastern Conference university.

Originally from Middle Tennessee, Coker attended graduate school at Auburn University before making her way southeast to take a position at the Coastal Research and Extension Center at Mississippi State University, where she worked for 24 years in urban horticulture and commercial vegetable production. She joined the AgCenter earlier this month.

“I officially started July 1, but over the years, I’ve collaborated with a lot of the AgCenter faculty and staff and even conducted workshops at the Hammond station,” she said. “So, when this opportunity became available, it was a great fit because I’ve always worked with ornamentals and vegetables.”

After less than a fortnight at the AgCenter, Coker is ready to tackle her new duties, which include serving the AgCenter’s Southeast Region and its booming nursery industry as extension horticulturist; coordinating research at Hammond; and working with horticulture agents and commercial vegetable growers throughout the state as vegetable specialist.

With just under 150 acres, the Hammond Research Station conducts numerous ornamental variety trials annually that directly impact the industry and consumers in Louisiana. The trials include both existing plants and those new to the market. Coker said these trials are important to producers and consumers.

“We try varieties out to ensure they’re a good fit before a grower goes all in with producing them,” Coker said. “We make recommendations to consumers for plants that are going to work well in home landscapes in an effort to bring the green industry and consumers together. This is the goal of the Louisiana Super Plants program.”

Coker has already attended a watermelon field day at the Sugar Research Station in St. Gabriel and will head north later this month to attend a field day at the Dean Lee Research and Extension Center near Alexandria, where she will speak to vegetable growers in the Cenla area.

“I’ve already had speaking engagements and phone calls, and that really shapes my extension work,” she said. “I had a call yesterday from an agent on behalf of a grower that was having some production problems, so I do a lot of question asking and answering.”

Despite holding a position that covers the entire state, Coker emphasized that her main responsibility is being one of the public faces of the Hammond Research Station, trusting that her extension work will build upon itself as needs arise.

“Over the next year, we’re going to be building new programs here, including bringing in a new horticultural weed scientist at the beginning of August,” she said. “I’m hoping to build some new research programs here and do some strategic planning as part of a five-year plan. It’s all super exciting!”

LSU AgCenter state vegetable specialist Christine Coker works out of the Hammond Research Station, where she also serves as station research coordinator and horticulture extension agent for southeast Louisiana. Photo by Olivia McClure/LSU AgCenter