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| Members of SU Ag Center and St. Landry Parish at garden site |
Baton Rouge, LA – The SU Ag Center recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with St. Landry Parish Government on a garden project that will enhance the quality of life of the community while saving the government some money. A garden project is proposed for St. Landry Parish. The parish government will provide land for the garden in Opelousas near the local airport. The garden will be run by inmates from the parish prison under the supervision and management of parish personnel. In the first year, the one-acre garden will grow sweet corn and vegetable crops with the potential of expanding to four acres in coming years. Southern University Ag Center will provide technical assistance and training for inmates and field workers. The training will include workshops and hands-on experience in the gardening operation, from raising seedlings, transplanting, maintaining to harvesting. Initially, the seedlings will be raised at the Southern University Agricultural Center green house. In the future, a garden storage shed will be erected onsite to enable the garden to raise its own seedlings. The produce will feed the inmates and the surplus will be sold to the community, thus increasing access to healthy food in St. Landry community, saving the parish some money and generating income.
The purpose and scope of the project as delineated on the MOU are: to develop a garden that will be run by inmates so that they will have fresh supply of healthy food to eat and to share; to train inmates with valuable gardening skills that will help them with job opportunities upon their release; and to use the garden for model demonstration for communities and students in St. Landry Parish.
For more information, please contact Dr. Gina E. Eubanks at 225-771-2719 or via email at gina_eubanks@suagcenter.com
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Contact:
Bridget Udoh
(225) 771-5714
bridget_udoh@suagcenter.com
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