(12/18/25) BATON ROUGE, La. — Land-grant universities that conduct agricultural research, extension and education play a valuable role in supporting rural America and securing the nation’s food and fiber systems, a U.S. Department of Agriculture official told LSU AgCenter and Southern University Ag Center employees during a visit to Baton Rouge.

Jaye Hamby, director of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, said relationships with universities are critical to the work of federal agencies like the one he oversees.

“I am so privileged to be at the helm of this organization because I get to work with people like you solving complex challenges,” he said. “This isn’t just the federal government making it happen. It’s done in collaboration, and most importantly, in partnership with states like Louisiana.”

Hamby made the comments Dec. 15 during the opening session of the Louisiana Land-Grant Agriculture Summit on the LSU campus. He has been in charge of NIFA, the extramural funding arm of the USDA, since March.

Hamby got a firsthand look at some of the research his agency is funding during tours of LSU AgCenter facilities Dec. 16.

At a greenhouse at the AgCenter Doyle Chambers Central Research Station, he heard about a NIFA-supported project that aims to develop more sustainable rice varieties and production practices. He then visited the AgCenter Aquatic Germplasm and Genetic Resources Center, where NIFA is funding research on genetic preservation of crawfish.

Hamby told the opening session audience of his appreciation for the Land-Grant University System. In his job today, he sees the dedication of scientists and extension agents who help farmers and other constituents find solutions to their most pressing problems. As a first-generation college student who grew up participating in 4-H and FFA in rural southeast Tennessee, where his parents ran a cow-calf operation, Hamby also knows the value of education.

“When we think about why our Land-Grant University System was created, it was to help folks,” he said. “I know many of you share my same journey. Folks like us have an opportunity for higher education and career success.”

The lure of a university education and a wide choice of career paths, however, has been a double-edged sword for agriculture over the past several decades. On one hand, Hamby said, younger generations’ tendency to leave the family farm for other opportunities has opened up large swaths of the country’s vast land assets and production power to consolidation.

He said the number of farms in the United States has declined by nearly 11% since 2002. Farms have gone out of business across all demographics — but the loss has been most acute among small operations under 250 acres. Many of the farms that have gone under in the past two decades raised beef cattle.

Still, Hamby sees reason for optimism.

The U.S. has recorded a substantial increase in agricultural producers below the age of 25 in recent years, he said. And although most Americans come from families that haven’t farmed for a living in four to five generations, interest in agriculture has nevertheless grown.

“Those who are that far removed from the family farm are hungrier for connectivity than ever before,” Hamby said. “And how can we do that? By putting a story with our food, with our fiber.”

Universities can help with this, he said. Not only can they train future farmers; they also can equip people to fill much-needed roles in other aspects of agriculture, including university-based positions focused on outreach. He noted that there are more than 104,000 job openings in agriculture annually.

“Whether it’s in the classroom, whether it’s in extension, whether it’s in research, it’s a rich job market in agriculture,” Hamby said. “We have tremendous opportunities ahead.”

Jaye Hamby, director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, speaks Dec. 15 to attendees of the Louisiana Land-Grant Agriculture Summit on the LSU campus. Photo by Olivia McClure/LSU AgCenter

Jaye Hamby, right, director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, listens as Prasanta Subudhi, an LSU AgCenter crop geneticist, discusses his work in a greenhouse at the AgCenter Doyle Chamber Central Research Station. Subudhi is the principal investigator of a NIFA-funded project examining sustainable rice varieties and growing practices. Photo by Olivia McClure/LSU AgCenter

Jaye Hamby, far right, director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, is given a tour of a greenhouse at the LSU AgCenter Doyle Chambers Central Research Station. Photo by Olivia McClure/LSU AgCenter

Jaye Hamby, right, director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, holds a crawfish at the LSU AgCenter Aquatic Germplasm and Genetic Resources Center Dec. 16 while Jack Koch, assistant director of the center, and Gabbie Bush, an undergraduate student worker, look on. The crawfish in these tanks are part of a genetic preservation project funded by a NIFA grant. Photo by Olivia McClure/LSU AgCenter

Terry Tiersch, right, director of the LSU AgCenter Aquatic Germplasm and Genetic Resources Center, shows Jaye Hamby, director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, a 3D-printed device used to hold tank lids shut. Photo by Olivia McClure/LSU AgCenter

Chris Toepfer, right, business director of the LSU AgCenter Aquatic Germplasm and Genetic Resources Center, shows Jaye Hamby, director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, several 3D-printed devices developed at the center to help with germplasm preservation work. Andy Schade, Yue Liu and Jack Koch, all with the AgCenter, look on at left. Photo by Olivia McClure/LSU AgCenter