Gerald Roberts, an LSU AgCenter and Southern University county agent in St. Landry Parish, said being chosen as the 2005 “Mr. Yam” punctuates his 29-year career of service to Louisiana sweet potato growers.
“It’s good to know I make a contribution,” he said.
Mr. Yam is the honorary title given each year to someone deemed valuable to the sweet potato industry by the directors of the Opelousas, La., Yambilee Festival. Mr. Yam serves as grand marshal for the Yambilee parade and presides over the Yambilee pageant and ball.
“We pick someone who has done a lot for the sweet potato industry,” said Sheryl Badeaux, executive secretary of Yambilee Inc., which hosts the festival during the last full week of October. “Gerald fit the bill perfectly.”
Roberts said he was pleased and humbled.
“You realize where you started from, and you realize where you are. I realized the responsibility that’s also associated with it,” he said.
Roberts, who grew up on a small farm in St. Landry Parish, went to Southern University to study vocational agriculture education and later earned a master’s degree in extension education from LSU.
Roberts started his career with Southern University and the LSU AgCenter in 1976 with an extension appointment in Evangeline Parish that had him working with small farmers.
“I went to work to help people from day one,” he said. “I get up everyday because I want to make a difference. We are in the business to help people.”
In 1985, he was assigned to help with horticulture education in addition to helping sweet potato farmers. He also serves as chair for the St. Landry Parish extension office.
Roughly 35,000 to 40,000 acres of sweet potatoes were grown in St. Landry Parish in the 1940s and 1950s, but now the number has dwindled to 1,500 acres in St. Landry, Evangeline and Acadia parishes.
The decline is a reflection of what is happening to agriculture in general.
“Farmers are facing increased costs of production, erratic prices at harvest, larger and more specialized farms, unpredictable weather and, in some cases, trying to adjust to the demands of the consumer. As a result, profit margins continue to shrink, and farmers are being forced out of business,” Roberts said.
For example, nowadays a producer has to have a packing plant and storage facility with a humidifier, refrigeration unit and heater to keep products on hand to sell at the right time. With those expensive facilities, a grower can harvest a crop in the fall and sell sweet potatoes all the way through Easter, he said.
Other LSU AgCenter people who have been named Mr. Yam include Abner Hammond, an entomologist who conducts research on insect problems of the sweet potato, and Jack Bagent, former vice chancellor for extension, now retired, and also an entomologist.
Bruce Schultz
(This article was published in the winter 2006 issue of Louisiana Agriculture.) |