Program Highlights

Family, Nutrition and Health
The LSU AgCenter focuses on strengthening families and citizens through Nutrition and Health educational programs. By providing the latest LSU AgCenter research findings it creates healthier eating habits, combats childhood obesity and provides effective lifestyle instruction to prevent and/or manage physiological diseases such as diabetes. The Family Nutrition Program teaches nutrition and health programs to Head Start children and parents, Council on Ageing members, OFS and OCS clients. The LSU AgCenter maintains a partnership in educa-tion with the LVFC (Louisiana Volunteers for Family and Community). Cooperative efforts focus on Health, Family Life, Environment, Literacy, and International Understanding.

4-H Youth Development
"LEARN BY DOING" is the premise of the Jeff Davis Parish 4-H Program. In Jeff Davis Parish, 4-H is a vital part of the educational process with active clubs in all parish public and parochial schools, reaching 911 youth in the 4th through 12th grade. The parish is concentrating on initiatives that include Workforce Preparation, Character Education, Leadership, and Community Service Learning based on the Mission Man-dates: Science, Engineering and Technology.

The Clover buds program in our parish is reaching 75 youth in grades Kindergarten through 3rd. The program introduces youth to 4-H and the hands on learning process and is working as a recruitment tool for our 4-H program. . Teen Leadership is a major program for the parish. The parish teen leader club has 125 mem-bers; the club focus is service learning and making a civic impact. Teen Leaders volunteered for the Capital Area Food Bank this past summer in Austin, TX. 64 Teens attended 4-H University, 46 were Blue Ribbon winners and 5 state winners. Two Jeff Davis youth is working in a leadership position on the state level. The purpose of the Jeff Davis 4-H Outdoor Skills Club, our fastest growing program, is to teach youth firearm and archery equipment safety, sportsmanship and marksmanship. Over 130 youth and 15 Level I Certified Instruc-tor with many parent volunteers participate in the program.

Parish 4-H Statistics: 24 organized clubs with 65 organizational leaders, 911 4-H members, 430 youth participated in Youth Wetlands Week, 90 youth attended 4-H summer camp, 157 youth participated in the livestock program and 289 volunteers are active in our program. Youth participating in service learning project reported: New 4-H Programs in the parish concentrating on Science, Engineering and Technology are Water Rocketry and Gardening. Mall Cents is a new 4-H program educating youth on fashion and financial management. 150 7th-12th graders from our parish determined a 91% sense of belonging by being a part of our 4-H.program. These youth are more intrinsically motivated, earning higher grades and being leaders in their schools as a result from being a member of 4-H. Jeff Davis Parish 4-H is a vital part of the educational process for all the youth we serve in all parish and private schools within our parish.

Agriculture & Natural Resources
Agricultural production is the largest economic generator in Jeff Davis Parish. Profitability in agriculture has become more difficult to achieve due to increased cost of production, greater pest pressure and increased regulatory requirements. In order to help producers achieve fiscally and environmentally efficient production, the LSU AgCenter presents the latest research based recom-mendations through electronic newsletters, news articles, result demonstrations, farm research plots, field days, educational clinics, mass media and farm visits. Emphasis is in the major commodities of rice, soybean, sugarcane, grain and cattle production. Consumer horticulture (gardens, ornamentals and turf) is another major educational area. 

Who we reach

911 4-Hers enrolled in 24 clubs
289 4-H Youth and Adults Volunteers
324 Agricultural Producers
4,000 Home Gardeners
400 Nutrition (FNP) Clients
40 LVFC Volunteers

How we reach them:  

4-H clubs, Class series, School Enrichmen,t Project Clubs, Demonstrations, Field days, Workshops, Newsletters, Web sites, Publications, On Farm Research Commodity, and  Schools

Expanding our efforts:  

1180 youth took part in Smart Bodies,
430 youth took part in Youth Wetlands Week &
90 youth attended summer camp.
500 ag. producers participated in ed. programs
154 private pesticide applicators certified 

Parish Facts  

LSU AgCenter Agents provide research-based information to Jefferson Davis Parish clientele. The top agricultural commodities in the parish are: Rice-82,000 acres, soy-bean-32,000 acres, crawfish-22,000 acres, sugarcane-3,6000 acres, hay-20,000 acres, turf-850 acres and beef cattle-15,600 head.

The total value of agricultural commodi-ties exceeds $140,000,000.

Data from the Louisiana Ag Summary Web site: LSUAgCenter.com/agsummary

Population - 31,097
Land area (square miles) - 625.5
Persons under 18 years old - 27.6%
Persons 65 years old and over - 13.7% 

Local Issues & Plans for this year

Family and Consumer Science
1.Enhancing life quality through family, health, nutrition and community develop-ment  

• continue LVFC efforts through in the Healthy Lifestyles Seminar and Heart Healthy Month
• provide diverse classes in nutrition and healthy eating habits
• continue to provide training to child providers and child care centers with a focus on childhood nutrition
• make clients aware of educational programs available through the LSU AgCenter

4-H Youth Development
2. Building leaders and citizens through 4-H youth development  

• develop and implement volunteer leadership specifically in the areas of livestock and outdoor skills
• expand the 4-H Clover buds Program throughout the parish to reach more youth
• continue to increase the service learning project work with an educational focus with our Team Leadership Program
• expand programming in the 4-H mission mandate of Science, Engineering and Technology specifically in the areas of photography and robotics
• continue the success of our Teen Leadership Program, Livestock Program, Project Clubs, 4-H Club Program and School Enrichment Efforts

Ag and Natural Resources
3.Increase profitability in agriculture

• conduct result demonstrations in rice, soy-bean, beef, small grain and alternative fuel crops
• conduct commodity schools and field days for rice and soybean
• use mass media, personal contacts, farm visits and electronic media to inform producers
• use multiple methods to inform home garden-ers on effective and environmentally sound practices for consumer horticulture production.