Editor’s note: Over the past several months, The Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate photographer Jill Pickett visited with several farmers in northwest Louisiana. The stories, photos and videos provide a glimpse at some of the various agricultural activities in Bossier, Caddo and DeSoto parishes. This is the sixth in the series. To see all content with this series, click Agriculture in NWLA: Get caught up on our series spotlighting local farmers.
It’s not hard to find the LSU AgCenter Red River Research Station, just travel south of Bossier City on U.S. 71 and look for the “big red barn,” but it’s hard to tell all that goes on there at a glance.
“Well, I guess you know what I always say here, is everybody passes by on 71 and they see the big red barn, but they’ve never known what went on behind the big red barn,” Northwest Regional Director for LSU AgCenter Ronald Strahan said. “And what’s gone on behind the big red barn is a tremendous impact on agriculture in Louisiana and beyond through the years.”
Red River Research Station is one of 14 across the state. Strahan said it was started in the late 1940s and currently has 573 acres…