Louisiana’s 4-H program creates young leaders who sustain the state’s agriculture

Lanette G. Hebert, based in Rayne, serves as the southwest 4-H regional coordinator for the LSU AgCenter, bringing over 35 years of service to Louisiana’s 4-H youth development programs. Throughout her tenure, she has worked to empower youth, strengthen volunteer networks and build programs that foster leadership, citizenship and essential life skills. Last year, Hebert had a hand in hosting the Growing Careers … Beyond the Rice Field pilot program — an effort to introduce high school youth to the science and business of rice production, sponsored by the Louisiana Rice Promotion Board. 

Hebert’s passion for community and education reflects her belief that investing in young people creates a stronger, brighter future for Louisiana.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

What does your role with the AgCenter look like, beyond the rice field program? 

We develop educational programs, and one that we’ve focused on is ag awareness. Out of our advisory process, someone suggested that we focus on the rice industry, since the LSU AgCenter H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station is within the southwest region. 

Do you plan to host another Beyond the Rice Field program in the future? 

We’re going to propose that we do it every other year. We highlight all careers available in the ag industry, whereas this one was targeted just on the rice industry, so we plan to alternate them — one general ag awareness program and then the rice program. 

What activities and curriculum did the students participate in for the rice field program? 

We really called upon the professors at the rice research station. They went out with entomologists into the rice fields, looked for bugs and then evaluated the bugs and discussed how they would impact the rice crop. 

In our agronomy lab, they took home seed plots and did different treatments on them. They learned about drones and got to fly drones. Every one of the six sessions highlighted the careers, but then also did some type of hands-on activity. 

How are young people integral to the future of Louisiana agriculture? 

That’s the driving force behind our ag awareness program, especially with this rice field day, is a concern for young people who are entering careers that are agriculture-based. We cooperate with the College of Ag at LSU to highlight those careers, from fashion merchandising to food science to agronomy.

We’re trying to expose them to a vast array of career opportunities in agriculture and what educational opportunities are available to them. With our rice field day, we emphasized internships and high school job opportunities that would expose them to see if they’d like this career choice. 

One of the key things we’re trying to do is develop their awareness of the careers but also give them hands-on opportunities. 

How does 4-H develop leadership skills and teach students the soft skills needed in the workforce? 

The ag awareness program is just one of the things we offer. Our statewide forage program offers opportunities in three core areas besides agriculture: STEM, healthy living and citizenship and leadership. 

We start the 4-H program in fourth grade, and a lot of that is where they are exploring and learning about the different subject matters. As they stay with us in the 4-H program, we transition that into leadership. If a fourth grader starts off interested in the nutrition project and cooking, they’re learning how to measure ingredients, but we’re hoping, by 10th grade, they’re conducting the workshop for the fourth grader. 

Louisiana 4-H is pretty unique. We have seven statewide leadership boards where we focus on subject matter and developing leaders in those areas. Every parish also has a team leadership program. That club focuses very heavily on leadership development.

How does 4-H work with external partners in the state — farmers, researchers, etc. — to bolster the program? 

We’re always looking for community collaborators who are aligned with the missions of our 4-H program. The rice field day was a great example. It was awesome to see the passion that our researchers, research associates, extension faculty and farmers have for their career paths. 

That’s always something, when we find a partner that has the same goal and passion of reaching young people and sustaining an industry. 

Our STEM program is really growing right now, so robotics gives us a lot of opportunity to partner with local people as well. We have things like job interview contests, and we work with HR departments to do mock interviews.

We’re always trying to connect with people throughout the site to highlight their careers and passions for different subject matters that pertain to our young people.