High school students hear about agriculture, careers at field day

(09/30/16) CHASE, La. – High school students from northeast Louisiana had a chance to learn about careers in agriculture and the importance of the industry to their daily lives at the Northeast Region Youth Field Day on Sept. 28.

The third annual Youth Field Day drew 227 students from 12 parishes to the LSU AgCenter Sweet Potato Research Station in Chase, said Catahoula Parish 4-H agent Ashley Powell. Members of the northeast regional 4-H leadership board helped guide visitors to several stations, where they heard from industry professionals and AgCenter personnel about their work.

Rogers Leonard, AgCenter associate vice president, encouraged the students to go to college and consider careers in agriculture.

“The present opportunities for you if you graduate with a degree in the agricultural sciences are greater than in other fields of study such as engineering,” he said. “There are numerous careers you can have in agriculture.”

The students were able to visit a booth with information on degree programs in the LSU College of Agriculture and talk to people who work in agriculture, including AgCenter extension agents, crop consultant Ashley Peters, Dow AgroSciences sales representative Jerome Otto and employees of the ConAgra Lamb Weston plant in Delhi, which processes sweet potatoes.

The field day also included a tour of the research station. AgCenter research associate Theresa Arnold showed attendees several sweet potato varieties and told how varieties are bred to have certain characteristics, such as flavor and resistance to disease and insects.

AgCenter sweet potato specialist Myrl Sistrunk and research associate Bill McLemore described the labor-intensive process of farming sweet potatoes. Even though equipment is used to plant and harvest sweet potatoes, much of the work still must be done by hand, including grading harvested potatoes for quality.

“Every potato is handled by hand,” Sistrunk said. “Someone has to pick it up and grade it.”

Farmers strive to grow as many No. 1 grade potatoes as possible, Sistrunk told the students. Smaller or misshapen potatoes must be sold as No. 2 or for canning, which brings in less money.

Beekeepers demonstrated the tools they use to care for hives and explained how bees make honey. AgCenter horticulture agent Kerry Heafner talked about bees’ role in pollination.

“It’s a crucial process for fruit production,” he said.

Students also heard from LSU graduate students Evelyn Gutierrez, who discussed foodborne illnesses and food safety, and Jeewon Koh, who led an activity in making a gel using pectin, a carbohydrate that can be used to make foods such as gummy bears.

Louise Wicker, director of the AgCenter School of Nutrition and Food Sciences, told the students about the importance of nutrients found in different foods.

Corianne Frazier, a senior at Tensas High School, said she didn’t know much about food science before the field day, but now is thinking about studying in that area when she goes to college.

“I learned a lot more about careers I didn’t know were in agriculture,” Frazier said.

Tanner Hammonds, a sophomore at Beekman Charter School in Morehouse Parish, said he is considering a career in agriculture business and enjoyed talking with people who work in that field. He said he liked that the field day featured several different aspects of agriculture.

“It’s kind of like career day for ag, and it opens up doors for a whole lot of people that really don’t understand it or are just now getting into it,” Hammonds said.

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LSU AgCenter research associate Theresa Arnold, standing behind table at left, shows attendees of the LSU AgCenter Northeast Region Youth Field Day different varieties of sweet potatoes. The event was held on Sept. 28, 2016, at the AgCenter Sweet Potato Research Station in Chase. Photo by Olivia McClure

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LSU AgCenter sweet potato specialist Myrl Sistrunk, left, checks the grade-out quality of sweet potatoes that a student collected during an activity at the Northeast Region Youth Field Day. The event was held on Sept. 28, 2016, at the AgCenter Sweet Potato Research Station in Chase. Photo by Olivia McClure

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LSU graduate student Jeewon Koh, left, shows attendees of the LSU AgCenter Northeast Region Youth Field Day solutions containing pectin that can be used to make a number of foods, such as gummy bears. The event was held on Sept. 28, 2016, at the AgCenter Sweet Potato Research Station in Chase. Photo by Olivia McClure

10/4/2016 3:16:21 PM
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