The LSU Agricultural Center's Delta Rural Development Center (DRDC) is located within the Thomas J. Lingo Community Center at Oak Grove, La. The DRDC is committed to helping people in the rural areas of Louisiana overcome poverty and other barriers to economic prosperity.
The DRDC provides research-based educational programs in rural entrepreneurship, leadership, rural tourism and agricultural enterprise development. The DRDC faculty also teach the basics of organizing regional economic development collaborations among universities, private corporations and local governments, such as the Louisiana Delta Initiative.
The DRDC is directed by Dr. James Barnes, who is an assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness at Louisiana State University and state program leader for the LSU Agricultural Center's Community Rural Development (CRD) program.
The DRDC faculty involved in the CRD program include: Dora Ann Hatch, Glenn Dixon, Sheila Haynes and Drs. Cynthia Pilcher, Kay Lynn Tettleton, Sanford Dooley, Karen Overstreet, and J. Matthew Fannin.
To learn more about the DRDC and its programs, subscribe to the DRDC quarterly newsletter, Louisiana Rural Perspectives.
If you have questions about the DRDC or the educational CRD programs delivered to communities, please contact Dr. Barnes at (318) 428-3571 or jbarnes@agcenter.lsu.edu.