USDA grant supports ongoing business development

The Center for Rural and Small Business Development at Southern University Ag Center has been awarded a $100,000 economic development and business promotion grant by the United States Department of Agriculture.

Only 13 other 1890 institutions received the competitive award. "These funds help provide entrepreneurship
training and benefits to rural youth," said USDA secretary Tom Vilsack. "President Obama believes our nation's economic competitiveness and the path to the American dream depend on providing every student with an education that will enable them to succeed in a global economy. Using these funds, students will learn to take advantage of existing economic development opportunities in their communities - such as renewable energy resources - as well as the vast business knowledge and connections that these schools and their faculty members have."

The grant, provided through USDA Rural Development, will help the Center for Rural and Small Business Development continue creating businesses, promoting cooperatives and providing jobs training. For more information, visit http://crsbd.com/ or www.suagcenter.com

USDA announces National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Thursday, October 8, will be a very important day for USDA science, with the formal launch of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture .  USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack intends to deliver a major address on the future of USDA science at the National Press Club.  

The event – including the Secretary’s remarks – will be webcast live at www.Visualwebcaster.com/NIFA-Rollout  beginning at 2 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.  


NIFA replaces USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Services. Like CSREES, NIFA focuses on investing in science and solving critical issues impacting people's daily lives and the nation's future. For more information, visit www.nifa.usda.gov.  CSREES continues to fund programs at the Southern University Ag Center throughout the state.

Software training gain momentum

The Southwest Center for Rural Initiatives’ basic computer software training is gaining momentum throughout the Center’s 10-parish reach. 

Since November, more than 200 citizens have participated and benefited, said class organizer Latonia Morrison-Frank. Many participants are using this new training on their jobs, businesses and for self improvement. 

“Participation in these basic courses are yielding a more confident citizenry in using Microsoft Word and PowerPoint to create and edit documents, forms, business advertisements, presentations, and tracking of data,” she said.

The chambers of commerce in several of the parishes served have founded the trainings positive for their communities. Each session is met with increased participation from local sheriff departments, governmental departments, banks, businesses and other community entities. 

Due to limited number of computers, the majority of the trainings can only accommodate ten participants per session. However, this has not impacted the interest. In Acadia and Allen Parishes, the Chamber of Commerce wants the Southwest Center to “keep coming back”. They are anxious about future offerings of the trainings and eager to get the word out to the community, said Morrison Frank.

For more information, contact Morrison-Frank, regional market/analyst developer, at the Southwest

Center for Rural Initiatives (337) 943-2410 or latonia_morrisonfrank@suagcenter.com

Bourlaug Fellows train at Southern University

The Southern University Center for International Development Program hosted the 2009 Borlaug Fellows Women in Science Fellowship and the Southern University Ag Center provided assistance and training to the Fellows.

The Fellowship provides training to agribusiness entrepreneurs from the African countries of Kenya and Malawi. 

Four fellows were selected based on their leadership skills and business experiences. The group travelled to Southern University's Center for International Development Program for six weeks, ending this month. During this period, they attended lectures, went on field trips and shadowed trainers assigned to them.

Program participants included: Eunice Mwongera, Managing Director of Hillside Green Growers and Exporters Company, exporter of fresh fruits and vegetables from Kenya. She came to gain knowledge that will assist small scale farmers to increase and improve the quality of their fruit and vegetable products for export; and to improve business skills and ability to mentor other female business entrepreneurs.  

Stella Kachoka, Traditional Authority Coordinator for “Concern Worldwide,” Malawi, interested in crop diversification techniques, specifically in cassava and sweet potatoes. She came to gain increased understanding of food production that matches domestic and export market needs. Patience Mgollimwale, Farmer Organization Development Coordinator with Malawi Enterprise Zones Association, came to seek skills in farmer cooperative development and trade policy issues related to agricultural exports.

Maness Nkhata, Managing Director for Kakoma Estate, a company that specializes in livestock and crop production, wanted to gain knowledge in business development, management and financial resource mobilization,specifically microfinance for small to medium-scale businesses. 

The program was coordinated by Rufus Nwogu, PhD, assistant director, Southern University Center for International Development Programs. Several faculty from the Southern University Agricultural Research and Extension Center provided training.  Fatemeh Malekian, PhD, food scientist, provided the ServSafe Essentials for food handling. Adell Brown, PhD, vice chancellor for finance and administration, and Oscar Udoh,PhD, coordinator for planning and evaluation, provided lectures on risk management, forming cooperatives, marketing and building trade capacity. James McNitt, PhD, retired animal science professor, provided a series of farmer training modules for production of safe food. Renita Marshall, DVM, director of livestock programs, and Mila Berhane provided tours of the Experiment Station and Horticulture area.

The program is administered by USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service in cooperation with the U.S. Agency for International

Development, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. To read more about the Borlaug

Fellowship Program, visit: http://www.fas.usda.gov/icd/borlaug/borlaug.htm

Malekian receives Polaris Award

Southern University Ag Center researcher Fatemeh Malekian received the Polaris Award from The Greater Baton Rouge Pan-Hellenic Council, Inc. during its seventh annual banquet.   Named for the North Star, the award highlights volunteers who have favorably affected diversity and unity in the Baton Rouge area.  Malekian was recognized for her research and work with  health and nutrition, community outreach, childhood obesity, and food safety. The Greater Baton Rouge Pan-Hellenic Council is a non-profit service organization composed of representatives from eight of the nine Greek-letter organizations. 

Beat the Back to School Blues

Many children feel nervous or even scared the first few weeks of  school because of all the new things: new teachers, new friends, and maybe even a new school. Luckily, these "new" worries only stick around for a little while. You can beat the back to school blues by knowing what to expect.

Going Back to School Tips

• Get enough sleep so you will be able to stay awake in class.
• Eat a balanced breakfast to give you the energy you will need.
• Try to go to school with a positive attitude every day (although it's OK to have a blue funk sometimes).
• Give school your best effort.
• Develop good work habits. That means writing down your assignments and turning in your homework on time.
• Take your time with assignments in and out of the classroom, If you don't understand something, ask the teacher.
• Keep a sense of humor.

Read more tips at http://www.suagcenter.com/News%20Archives/Jul-Aug2005/BackToSchool.html

Ag Center scientists attend international conference

Kirkland Mellad, vice chancellor for research, and Sebhatu Gebrelul, professor of animal science, attended the 2009 joint meeting of the American Society of Animal Science, American Dairy Science Association, and Canadian Society of Animal Science, July 12-16, in Montreal, Canada. Gebrelul presented a paper on performances of kids and calves grazing together and separately. The meeting brought together nearly 3,000 scientists from around the world and addressed issues of interest in research, extension, teaching, and commercial activities in all areas of animal agriculture. For more information, contact Gebrelul at (225) 771-2262 or sebhatu_gebrelul@suagcenter.com

CoC Network educates hundreds at Essence Music Festival

On July 3-5 all roads led to New Orleans for the 15th Annual Essence Music Festival. The Festival is a weekend celebration of African-American music, culture, fashion, beauty, and empowerment seminars. Each day of the festival, Center’s Communities Network coordinators dangers of tobacco consumption secondhand smoke youth and members grassroots community.

For more information on the Southern University Ag Center's Communities of Color Network, visit www.suagcenter.com/communitiesofcolor

Business Development Center holds information exchange workshop

The Center for Rural and Small Business Development recently hosted its annual 1890 USDA, Rural Development Land-Grant Entrepreneurial Informational Exchange Workshop in New Orleans. Center director Gloria London, technology specialist Wilbert Harris, and business development specialist Eual Hall were participants at the workshop.

The overriding theme for the event was “Creating Sustainable Communities where all Persons Can Live and Work.” The theme is aligned with the USDA, Rural Development Mission: “to deliver programs in a way that will support increasing economic opportunity and improve the quality of life of rural residents. Rural Development provides equity and technical assistance to finance and foster growth in homeownership, business development and critical community and technology infrastructure.”

The USDA/RD 1890 program manager Edgar Lewis opened the workshop with warm welcome and guiding instructions. The new director Judith Canales, USDA Rural Development of Rural Business-Cooperative Programs, announced support for all participating 1890 land-grant educational institutions.

Workshop participants reviewed new goals and objectives, changes, rules and guidelines about funding, as well as to answer any questions about USDA, Rural Development programs.

Information exchange included: sharing project successes and challenges; networking among USDA Rural Development employees, both national and state offices; reviewing Rural Development’s new program initiatives and policies/regulations; strategizing on training businesses on cash flow management through more seminars, workshops for cooperatives and small businesses, among others.

Many new topics were added to the existing and expected tasks, including renewable energy, the American Recovery and Reinvestment

Act, youth entrepreneurship, and outreach to minority producers and cooperatives.

Center hosts University of Wisconsin Extension visitors

Members of the Multicultural Immersion Experience Group from the University of Wisconsin visited the SU Ag Center last month. The group visited Southern to learn more about the 1890 land-grant institution in order to broaden their understanding of its role in extension education and to acquire insight in order to create new ways of leading the University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension Systems towards increased relevancy in a multicultural and changing society. The visit was organized by SU Ag Center vice chancellor for extension Gina Eubanks.

Linking citizens to technology

Grant could bring access to residents near SU campuses.

The Ag Center's director of technology services Christopher J. Rogers is interviewed about linking citizens to technology. See the August 26th interview with WBRZ Channel 2 at http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/55457012.html. 

Rogers is assisting the Southern University System and the for Digital Equality™ who have plans to provide public computer accessibility, through 30 community-based centers, to nearly 200,000 residents situated in rural and underserved communities. Once funded, the initiative will establish technology services in communities surrounding the System’s five member institutions, along with targeted parishes where services are provided by the Southern.

For more information, email Rogers at chris_rogers@suagcenter.com

First seminar held today

You are invited to our first seminar in the series for the fall semester at the SU Ag Center, Thursday, August 27. Presenters of this seminar are professional agricultural producers Don Ashford and Wedge Barthe who will present "Sustainable Forage Management in South Louisiana." The seminar begins at 3:30pm in Room 191 of the Southern University Ag Center.

This is a regular seminar series presented by faculty and staff of the Southern University Ag Center and the SUBR College of Agricultural, Family and Consumer Sciences. The seminars are held every other Thursday at 3:30 p.m. and are free to the public. If you would like to present, or have questions, please contact Dr. James McNitt at 225-771-2262 ext. 270 or james_mcnitt@suagcenter.com

Marshall joins national swine flu discussion

Southern University Ag Center’s director of livestock programs, Renita Marshall, DVM, joins national Webinar discussion on H1N1. Marshall is also associate professor in the College of Agricultural, Family and Consumer Sciences at the Southern University A&M College.

When:
August 25, 2009 • 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time

Audience:
EDEN delegates and state-selected Extension specialists and educators

What:
With the prediction of a second wave for the novel H1N1, EDEN is hosting a Webinar to address available resources, the potential role of Extension educators, and effective methods for getting information and educational resources out to target audiences. In addition, presenters will address questions that are brought up during the Webinar.

Agenda:
· Introduction of the issues and EDEN Response Team Members for Novel H1N1 – Abigail Boron, EDEN

· Current Human Issues of novel H1N1 – Tanya Graham, South Dakota State University

· Current Swine Issues with novel H1N1 – Renita Marshall, Southern University

· H1N1 Resources and Pandemic Preparedness Resources available through EDEN – E. Kim Cassel, South Dakota State University

· Risk Communication before, during and after a pandemic – Dave Filson – Penn State University

· Invitation to join team – Dave Filson – Penn State University

· Questions and Answers

Outcome:
EDEN delegates and state-selected Extension specialists and educators will be better informed of EDEN’s resources and the EDEN Novel H1N1 Response Team. They can use this Webinar as a stepping point to provide more information to their own system and public audiences. The session will be recorded for future use and made available on the EDEN Web site.

If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Renita Marshall at (225) 771-2242 ext. 330 or renita_marshall@suagcenter.com

New ag leadership institute featured on TWILA, LFB radio network

Agriculture specialist Dawn Mellion Patin, Ph.D., joined the cast of This Week in Louisiana Agriculture television show to discuss the new Louisiana Small Farmer Agricultural Leadership Institute and the application process. The interview segment with reproter A.J. Sabine will also air on the Louisiana Farm Bureau Radio Network's 24 affiliate stations.

Tune in this Thursday (August 20) through next Wednesday on your local station to learn more about the institute's Sept. 1 application deadline.

Nationwide
RFD-TV Thursdays 3:30pm Central Time; and Fridays 1:30am Central Time
DirecTV Channel 345
Dish Network Channel 231
Baton Rouge
COX 4 Saturdays and Sundays at 9 a.m and Mon., Wed., Fri., at 8am
WAFB-TV 9 Sundays at 5am
KPBN-CH. 22 Monday-Thursday at 9:00am
LCN "Louisiana's Superstation" Cox 140 Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30pm Saturdays 8:30am

For other air times and stations, visit http://www.twilatv.org/whentowatch.html or http://www.lfbf.org/radionetwork.html

For more information on the institute, visit www.aginstitute.suagcenter.com or contact Mellion Patin at (225) 771-2242.

Tune In, Farmers!

Tune in this week to the Louisiana Agri-News Network on 107.3fm in Baton Rouge at 5:00 am to hear about the Ag Center's Louisiana Small Farmer Agricultural Leadership Institute. Finally, a comprehensive training for Louisiana small farmers! 

Institute project director and ag specialist Dawn Mellion Patin, Ph.D., was interviewed by journalist Don Molino earlier today. For more information on the institute, visit www.aginstitute.suagcenter.com or contact Patin at (225) 771-2242.

Ag Institute opens for new applicants

Applications are now being accepted for the Small Farmer Agricultural Leadership Institute. The Institute is a two-year course of study specifically designed to guide small, socially disadvantaged, limited resource, or minority farmers through the transformative process of becoming successful agricultural entrepreneurs. 

The deadline to apply is September 1. 

For more information, visit www.aginstitute.suagcenter.com or contact Dawn Mellion Patin,Ph.D., MBA, agricultural speciaist and Institute project director, at (225) 771-2242 ext. 201 or dawn_mellion@suagcenter.com

Back to School Summit to encourage teens to 'Change the World'

"It's Back-to-School Summit time again and we expect this year to be one of the best ones yet," said Edna Lastrapes, assistant area agent for the Southern University Ag Center.

This year, the summit takes on the

 theme "Knowledge is Power: Change the World," encouraging nearly 2,300 eighth graders from St. Landry, Evangeline, St. Martin, and Pointe Coupee parishes to change their clothes, change the channel, change the minds, change their direction, change their attitude, and change the world.

The summit will bring together music, drama, humor and inspiring speakers to help the preteens and teens make healthy choices and to choose abstinence until marriage as the healthiest lifestyle. Each summit is a full day of activities from 8 am to 2 pm on Friday, August 21, 2009, in Opelousas; and from 8:30 am - 2:00 pm Friday, August 28, 2009, in Ville Platte; Thursday, September 3, 2009, in Cade and Friday, September 11, 2009 in New Roads.

All programmatic areas of the Ag Center will be on display at each summit.

The summit is an annual collaboration between the Southern University Agricultural Research and Extension Center- through its Southwest Center for Rural Initiatives and 40 other nonprofit organizations, state agencies, local municipal governments, and businesses.

For more information, contact the Southwest Center for Rural Initiatives at (337) 943-2410 or email Edna Lastrapes at Edna_lastrapes@suagcenter.com.

We're on Facebook

Southern University Ag Center invites you to become a fan of the Southern University Ag Center's Facebook Page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Baton-Rouge-LA/Southern-University-Ag-Center/67357504781.

SU Ag Center helps 10 become Master Cattlemen

Eleven farmers from five parishes completed the 10-week Master Cattleman program organized by Glenn Dixon, Southern University Ag Center agent, East and West Carroll parishes. 

Master Cattlemen classes help aspiring cattlemen and current producers learn best management practices for producing high quality beef in an environmentally beneficial way. 

The course was conducted via distance learning in collaboration with the LSU AgCenter. 

Participants represented West Carroll, Richland, Morehouse, Ouachita, and Franklin parishes. For more on the program contact Dixon at 318-559-0060 or 318-428-3571 or  glenn_dixon@suagcenter.com.