The LSU agcenter through its cooperative extension services works along with the LA experiment station to serve the citizens of louisiana in 4 main areas: family & community development to focus on…

The Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center $11.054 million under the Smith-Lever Extension Funding program (CFDA 10.511) on October 1, 2025, for a five-year period ending September 30, 2030.

The award funds cooperative agricultural extension services and research-based programming across four focal areas: Family and Community Development, addressing disaster preparedness, sustainable housing, and agritourism; Food Security and Systems, supporting animal, aquaculture, and plant production sustainability, food safety, certification programs, farm financing, and succession planning; Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability, encompassing conservation, forestry, wildlife management, water resources, and climate-smart agricultural practices; and Obesity, Health and Wellness, promoting nutrition education and physical activity. The extension services also deliver youth development programming providing Louisiana youth access to positive development opportunities.

LSU Agricultural Center, operating as a division of Louisiana State University and a 1862 land-grant institution, administers the award through its Cooperative Extension Services and Louisiana Experiment Station to serve Louisiana citizens statewide. The center collaborates with colleagues across other states to address regional and multi-state agricultural and community development needs.

The LSU agcenter through its cooperative extension services works along with the LA experiment station to serve the citizens of louisiana in 4 main areas: family & community development to focus on issues affecting individuals, families, community development; disaster, epidemic, and pandemic preparedness, mitigation, and recovery; risk awareness; sustainable housing; agro security; and agritourism with particular emphasis on knowledge, attitude and behavior change. Food security & systems to focus on increasing the sustainability and profitability of louisiana's animal, aquaculture, and plant systems and food accessibility, affordability, policy; food safety, to include seafood, raw produce, and processed commodity - safety, certification programs, farm financing, and succession planning issues. Natural resources & environmental sustainability to focus on conservation and preservation of natural resources, state's forestry industry, wildlife, wetland plants, water, waste management, landscapes, feedstocks, alternative biofuels, biomass processing and their effects on the environment and climate smart AG practices. Obesity, health & wellness focuses on increased consumption of healthy foods - fruits and vegetables; increasing physical activity; complete physical; mental and social well-being; policy, system, and environmental change; and related precision nutrition/health/wellness issues to include epid emic and pandemic prevention. Louisiana has a very unique and diverse group of citizens, but research that is being administered and disseminated via cooperative extension in each focal area helps the agcenter to better serve the citizens of louisiana as well as c ollaborate with colleagues in varying other states to CO-meet the needs of their respective state. In addition, the LA cooperative extension services provides service to the youth of louisiana via youth development. Youth development focuses on providing louisiana youth access to positive development opportunities and activities that build essential skills, develop leadership potential, and create civic-minded, healthy citizens engaged in solving community issues.