Tri-State Soybean Forum will target feral hogs and H2A

Feral hog management, H2A guest farm worker updates and electronic grading are among the items on the agenda for the 2024 Tri-State Soybean Forum as it rotates to Louisiana on Jan. 5.

The 68^th annual event will be held at the new Black Bear Convention Center, 231 Black Bear Drive in the northeastern Louisiana town of Delhi. The event opens at 7:30 a.m. with registration and ends with lunch at 12:15 p.m. There’s no cost to attend and registration will be on-site.

“Feral hogs and laws regarding guest farm workers are among the issues that cause sleepless nights for soybean farmers in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi,” said Jeremy Ross, Extension soybean agronomist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “We designed this annual forum to deliver information that can help our farmers work through these difficult issues.”

This year’s agenda:

7:30 a.m.         Registration

8 a.m.              Welcome, Louisiana State University AgCenter

8:15 a.m.         H2A worker program update — Brian Breaux, commodity and public policy managing director, Louisiana Farm Bureau

8:45 a.m.         Heat stress and irrigation timing during extreme conditions — Trent Irby, Extension professor-soybeans, Mississippi State University

9:15 a.m.         United Soybean Board and Louisiana Feed Grains update

9:45 a.m.         Electronic grading — Kevin Hoffseth, assistant professor-biological and agricultural engineer, LSU AgCenter

10:15 a.m.       Break — view exhibits

10:30 a.m.       State specialist updates:
David Mosley, assistant professor/soybean specialist, LSU AgCenter
Jeremy Ross, professor and soybean extension agronomist, University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
Trent Irby, extension professor-soybeans, Mississippi State University

11: a.m.           Solar Panels: Questions to ask before you sign — Rusty Rumley, senior staff attorney
National Agricultural Law Center, U of A System Division of Agriculture

11:30 a.m.       Feral hog control bait: Where are we and how long before it is available? — Glen Gentry, resident director, Bob R. Jones — Idlewild Research Center, LSU AgCenter

Noon               Presentation of scholarships and special recognition for services to the soybean industry

12:15 p.m.       Lunch 

For information about the event, contact R.L. Frazier, LSU AgCenter — office: 318-574-2465, or cell: 318-267-6714.