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Louisiana Agriculture Magazine Summer 2005
Nearly all of the rice grown in Louisiana was developed at the LSU AgCenter’s Rice Research Station in Crowley.
In 20 years, the LSU AgCenter’s small-grains breeding program has grown from nothing to being the source of the most widely planted wheat variety in Louisiana.
About three quarters of Louisiana rice is grown in the southwestern region of the state. In recent years, ratooning (a second harvest from the same planting) has become a common practice for many rice growers in this region. Ratooning allows Louisiana growers to compete with rice growers in other states where the environment is more favorable for rice growing.
Red rice, a noxious weed in rice, costs rice producers millions of dollars each year. Red rice is physiologically similar to rice. Consequently, rice andred rice are susceptible to the same herbicides, so controlling red rice with herbicides in rice fields is difficult.
LSU AgCenter and Mississippi State University researchers are starting a project to measure how well nonindustrial private forest landowners understand certification programs.
It is hypothesized that the level of environmental degradation will increase as per capita income increases up to a certain level. Then, the level of degradation will decrease with further growth in income, which would be beneficial to the environment. This relationship between environmental quality and per capita income would thus assume an inverted U shape.
Sea oats studied as coast ‘preservers’. Farm Bureau gives $4,000 to Master Farmer Program. Turning alligator waste into ‘gold’. Vandeveer lauded as teacher, researcher. New sugarcane varieties take pressure off 384
These articles were published in the summer 2005 issues of the Louisiana magazine.
Louisiana produces about a million pounds of alligator waste – primarily carcasses– each year.
The United States produces about 10 million tons of rice annually, with about 1.4 million tons in Louisiana. Rice straw can be made into valuable panel products for construction with characteristics superior to wood. Manufacture of rice straw panel products would also be good for the environment, making valuable use of a waste product.
Lonnie R. Vandeveer, a professor inthe Department of Agricultural Economicsand Agribusiness and a frequent contributor to Louisiana Agriculture,died on May 5, 2005, from a heart attack.
Plastic mulch has been used in the production of warm-season crops such as watermelon and other horticultural crops to reduce water evaporation, decrease soil compaction and fertilizer leaching, modify soil temperature, control weeds andincrease yield. In general, black plastic mulch is recommended in Louisiana for spring and fall vegetable production while white plastic mulchis recommended for the summer growing season.
The Clearfield system, which involves herbicide-resistant rice, offers for the first time the ability to selectively eliminate the weed red rice from a production rice field with the use of an herbicide. But the system must be used following strict guidelines. Otherwise, its future as a way to prevent red rice is limited.
Most of the sweet potatoes produced in Louisiana are marketed within the continental United States. However, domestic per capita consumption of sweet potatoes has remained mostly stagnant during the past several decades, hovering around 5 pounds perperson per year. A market development within the past several years has been the significant increase in fresh sweet potato import volume by the United Kingdom (U.K.).
Wood is a renewable natural resource typically preservative-treated to ensure structural integrity in many exterior applications. LSU AgCenter researchers studied attitudes toward treated wood, including surveying a national sample of homebuilders.
Ricestar (fenoxyprop), a relatively new selective herbicide, is used for postemergence control of grasses in rice. It provides good to excellent control of major grasses such as barnyardgrass, broadleaf signalgrass and sprangletop.
Cotton is a perennial plant capable of recovering from many stresses during Louisiana’s long growing season, including insect damage. However, as plants near maturity, their capacity to recover from stresses is reduced.
What to do with decommissioned, preservative-treated wood has become a burning issue. Well, not burning, actually. That’s one of the methods that can’t be used any longer, according to Todd Shupe, a forest products researcher in the LSU AgCenter’s School of Renewable Natural Resources. Shupe has been looking for answers for what to do with the products no longer serviceable.
LSU AgCenter sugarcane researchersshowcased new varieties at the sugarcane field day held July 20, 2005, at the Sugar Research Station at St. Gabriel.
The LSU AgCenter’s Master Farmer Program received a $4,000 check from the Louisiana Farm Bureau during the bureau’s annual conference in July 2005.
School gardens are used as outdoor classrooms around the United States to supplement the curriculum. Educators have reported that school gardens can be used to teach across the curriculum and that concepts and skills from virtually every subject can be learned through a school garden.
Adequate and timely fertilization is an important component of small grain cropping systems. Much research has been conducted on nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium; however, less information is available on the need for the nutrient sulfur.
