FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 18, 2006

Contact: Katara Williams
Office of Public Relations
P.O. Box 10010
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70813
(225)771-2242 / (225) 771-4374 Fax
www.suagcenter.com


SOUTHWEST CENTER TO FACILITATE GOAT PRODUCTION SEMINAR

Opelousas, LA- The Southern University Ag Center’s Southwest Center for Rural Initiatives (SCRI), in partnership with Agromen, Inc. and the City of Opelousas, will facilitate an informational meeting regarding goat production at the Opelousas North City Park’s Civic Center on Monday, July 31, 2006 at 6:00 p.m

The Southwest Center for Rural Initiatives is a satellite entity of the Southern University Agricultural Research and Extension Center. Its mission is to promote socioeconomic development within a ten-parish region. The center’s director, LaVonya Malveaux, has invited representatives from Southern University’s Ag Center and the Heifer Project International to provide information concerning their respective projects to interested, potential goat producers for the expansion of this market. Agromen, Inc., a local organization that seeks to promote the agricultural industry, will assist with the information sharing.

Since the center's presence in the City of Opelousas, Malveaux says she has received numerous inquiries from local farmers seeking to add goat to their current livestock. "Goats are seemingly being resurrected and growing as an alternative meat commodity," says Malveaux. "Southern University Ag Center and the Southwest Center recognize goat production as a viable economic opportunity with much potential for market development."

According to SU Ag Center Research Associate Theresa Walsh, goat production is currently the fastest growing segment of the livestock industry, not only in Louisiana, but across the United States. Recognizing the need to be on the leading edge of this new wave, the Southern University Ag Center - along with eight other 1890 institutions - came together to design a project to focus on producers.

The Initiative for Future Food and Agriculture Systems (IFAFS) does this by offering educational programs and hands-on training. The goal is to change production ideas. "We want to change the mindset of the producer, and give them confidence to cut the middle man out of their sale plan to enable them to change the target market from the sale barn, to selling directly to the consumer, and placing more of the food dollar in the pocket of the producer," says Walsh.

With headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas, the Heifer Project, International’s mission is to work with communities to end hunger and poverty and to care for the earth. Strategies to accomplish this include “passing on the gift” through which recipients agree to share the offspring of gift animals with others; environment and sustainable agricultural production development; animal well-being improvement; and, disaster rehabilitation.

For more information about the meeting, contact the Southwest Center for Rural Initiatives at 337-943-2410. The public is invited to attend.

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