Program Highlights

Family Nutrition and Health

Nutrition programs available through the LSU AgCenter provide research-based information to help individuals and families increase their nutrition knowledge, gain skills in healthy food preparation, and improve eating and activity habits in order to live a healthy lifestyle. The issue of childhood obesity is a major initiative of the LSU AgCenter. Programs such as Family Nutrition Night, Smart Bodies, Smart Choices, Body Quest, Happy Healthy Me, Loving Your Family Feeding Their Future and others target this issue and promote healthy lifestyles through hands-on educational activities for children, parents and caregivers. Eat Smart, Live Strong is a program available for senior adults looking to improve their health and knowledge of nutrition.

4-H Youth and Family Development

With the changing lifestyles of today’s families and the constant updates with technology ,youth are faced with decisions everyday associated with health/safety. Educational programs were taught to the youth on eye health, fast foods, identity theft/online shopping, social media, first aid and summer safety. Some of the most popular contest in the parish have been the 4-H Cookery Contest, 4-H pet show and the bicycle rodeo. 4-H Camp numbers doubled this year to 64 youth attending. Parish 4-H youth have continued to support community service/service-learning projects through the 4-H CAN Fight Hunger Campaign and the drink tab collection for St. Jude. Through participating in these activities, the youth have developed a sense of belonging and a good feeling about helping those less fortunate than themselves. Youth continue to learn about Louisiana agriculture through hands-on experiences in the Youth Wetlands Program, parish livestock projects and the school gardening settings.

Agriculture & Natural Resources

Agricultural production serves as an industry of major economic importance in Concordia Parish. Row crop production of soybeans, corn, cotton, rice, wheat and grain sorghum accounted for 96% of the $116 million gross farm value produced in the parish in 2012. On-farm variety demonstrations were conducted for cotton, corn and soybean row crops to assist farmers in identifying crop varieties that hold greatest yield potential in their production fields. Additionally, utilization of precision agriculture techniques, such as field-specific fertilizer application, continue to show promising results for farmers interested in maximizing their fertilizer efficiency.

Who we reach:

2,161 Youth (includes 4-H members and FCS programming)
1,394 Adults (1,150 Ag & Natural Resources; 244 Family Consumer Sciences)

How we reach them:

4-H Clubs, Class series, School enrichment, Demonstrations, Field days, Workshops, Newsletters, Websites, Publications, Social media, Summer programs, Health fairs, Home/farm/office visits.

Expanding our efforts:

157 Volunteers: 4-H, Family & Consumer Sciences.

Parish Facts

LSU AgCenter county agents provide research-based information on plant, aquaculture, wildlife and animal enterprises to Concordia Parish clientele. The 2012 total dollar amount from these commodities were:

• Plant enterprises – $122,097,691
• Fisheries and wildlife – $3,210,647
• Animal enterprises – $11,845,618

Data from the Louisiana Ag Summary www.lsuagcenter.com/agsummary

Population – 20,876
Land area (square miles) – 749
Persons under 18 years old – 24.5%
Persons 65 years old and over – 15.2%
Median household income – $28,705
Persons below poverty – 31.4%

Local Issues & Plans for this year

1. Ag and Natural Resources.

• Increase profitability in agriculture by improving net farm revenues and maintaining agricultural lands for sustainable productivity.
• Conduct annual crop production meetings.
• Write news articles, circulars, and web content on agricultural practices.
• Conduct farm and home visits for educational purposes.
• Monitor saltwater intrusion of agricultural irrigation wells.

2. Family and Consumer Sciences. Enhancing life quality through family, health, nutrition and community development.

• Programs for the elderly emphasizing the important role nutrition plays regarding health and chronic disease; encouraging at least 30 minutes of exercise daily.
• Programs that educate parents about the dangers and prevalence of childhood obesity and encourage them to make healthy nutrition choices for their children and families.
• Programs for youth addressing nutrition, physical exercise, and positive behavior.
• Programs and support to those who want to maintain healthy eating and exercise habits.

3. 4-H Youth & Family Development.

• Opportunities for youth to be more health conscience, aware of their surroundings and make smart decisions.
• Educational focus for the year is “Health/Safety,” which will include bullying, peer pressure and making the right food choices for meals and snacks.
• 4-H to involve youth in hands-on exercise/physical fitness activities.
• Use technology to attract more youth to the 4-H program. (computers, IPads, GPS, etc.)
• Involve parents, school leaders and 4-H alumni to support parish youth.