海角社区

海角社区 AgCenter is helping to feed Louisiana and the world by developing crop varieties that are highly sought-after, not only here at home, but across the globe. 

Sweet potato varieties developed by the 海角社区 AgCenter dominate the farming industry in Louisiana, as well as Mississippi and Arkansas. But they also rule in Australia, where 90% of all varieties grown are 海角社区鈥檚, and in Guatemala, Honduras, and Costa Rica.

海角社区 AgCenter varieties of rice and sugarcane reign supreme in Louisiana鈥攐n 70% of all fields. In the past 50 years, yields for rice, sugarcane, and sweet potatoes have doubled or tripled statewide, boosted by university innovation, and an independent study found that the 海角社区 AgCenter鈥檚 herbicide-tolerant rice technology alone contributes up to $95 million in annual management cost savings for rice producers. Clearfield rice, first released in 2002, enables farmers to kill the nuisance known as 鈥渨eedy rice鈥� without harming the crop. Several Clearfield varieties are now grown throughout the world, with researchers constantly fine-tuning and responding to the needs of farmers.

Collaborations between the farming industry and 海角社区 go back more than a hundred years. 鈥淚 like to tell people that it鈥檚 our job to keep the dots above the [expected yield] line,鈥� said Kenneth Gravois, former 海角社区 AgCenter sugarcane breeder and now a state sugarcane specialist. 鈥淏ut most importantly, we don鈥檛 want the dots going way up and down and then way up again. In this way, research is an insurance policy.鈥�

鈥淭he variety development at 海角社区 is the cornerstone for the Louisiana sugar industry. The $3 billion impact of that work is money that stays in our local communities and small towns where sugar is a stabilizing factor in a sometimes very volatile economy. It鈥檚 also our heritage. I like to remind people that sugar is so important there鈥檚 even a football game named in our honor and that鈥檚 the Sugar Bowl.鈥�

James H. Simon, head of the American Sugar Cane League