The West Feliciana Parish Joint Advisory Leadership Council Meeting was held in the West Feliciana LSU AgCenter Office.Layne Langley, Parish Chair began the meeting.She welcomed the stakeholders and thanked them for attending. Mrs. Langley provided the group with the LSU AgCenter Mission.LSU AgCenter staff introduced themselves and offered a brief overview of their programming areas.Katlin Gordon spoke about the 4-H Youth Development Program. Jessie Hoover shared information on her horticulture programming efforts and provided information on livestock and pasture programming in the absence of Dr. Donna Gentry.Mrs. Langley provided the stakeholders with information about her nutrition and community health (NCH) programs. She explained the purpose of the Joint Advisory Leadership Council.

Each staff member shared their top program area issues/needs generated from their program advisory leadership council meetings/surveys. Below are the issues/needs shared:

Ag & Natural Resources- Horticulture

Horticulture Needs

• Pruning & Care of Mature Landscapes
• Support for Community & Youth Programs (Events + 4-H )
• Native Plants, Plant Identification & General Gardening Education
• Weed control- more natural than chemical

Forestry

• Railroad information to connect Slaughter to Gloster
• Hood Container Expansion information

4-H

Educational Topics- Cloverbud Programming

• Volunteer Help

Participation- Social Media Youth Team – starting a social media youth team (a lot like a yearbook staff at school)

Marketing- Promotional Videos (Social Media Youth Team)

Ag & Natural Resources- Livestock/Pasture

• Extreme weather impacts/how to better prepare for drought (forages)
• Information for beginning/small farmers (maybe social media or webpage)
• Cover crop options for grazing
• Pasture weed control

Nutrition & Community Health

• Family nutrition education
• Hypertension
• Budget meal planning & shopping
• Diabetes Management
• Youth nutrition education

Using colored dots, members helped to prioritize the issues and needs they felt our staff should address first. After the vote, Mrs. Langley shared the top issues with the members.

• Family Nutrition Education- 5 votes
• Cover Crop Options for Grazing- 4 votes
• Pasture Weed Control- 4 votes
• Information for Beginning/Small Farm (maybe a social media page)- 3 votes
• Pruning & Care of Mature Landscapes- 3 votes
• Natural Weed Control- 3 votes
• Cloverbud Programming- 3 votes
• Volunteer Help- 3 votes
• Hypertension- 3 votes
• Budget Meal Planning & Shopping- 3 votes
• Diabetes Management- 3 votes
• Extreme Weather Impacts/How to Better Prepare for Drought (forages)- 2 votes
• Marketing Videos (Social Media Team)- 2 votes
• Youth Nutrition Education- 2 votes
• More social presence- maybe start a youth social media team (like yearbook)-2 votes
• Support for Community & Youth Programs (Events & 4-H)- 2 votes
• Native Plants, Plant Identification, and General Gardening Education- 2 votes
• Hood Container Expansion Information- 1 vote
• Railroad Information to Connect Slaughter to Gloster- 0 votes

Before adjourning, a group picture was taken. Special thanks to the Joint Advisory Leadership Council Members who attended this meeting: Melvin Harvey, Jr., Lanya Mayer, Arlene Culpepper, Gary Hill, Samantha Perritt, Janice Wynn, Lillie Pinkney, John M. Thompson, Mary Godke, Shannon Norris, Kathy Kane, and Johnny Arceneaux. Thank you to Dr. Donna Gentry for donating LSU AgCenter baseball caps and to the West Feliciana 4-H Foundation for sponsoring the refreshments.