Kurt Guidry, a professor of agricultural economics with the Louisiana State University AgCenter in Baton Rouge, has been named regional director for the AgCenter Southwest Region. The appointment is effective Oct. 1.
Guidry, who will be based at the H. Rouse Caffrey Rice Research Center in Crowley, will replace Steve Linscombe, who will retire Sept. 30, according to a university news release.
The Southwest Region includes 14 parishes and three research stations.
Guidry has a bachelor’s degree in agricultural business from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, a master’s degree in agricultural economics from LSU and a doctorate in agricultural economics from Oklahoma State University.
He started his career with the AgCenter in 1993 as a county agent in St. Landry Parish. Guidry left to pursue his doctorate in 1994 and returned to the AgCenter in 1997.
He has moved through the professorial ranks in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness and was named the Gilbert Durbin Professor of Agricultural Economics in 2008. He also has been a regular columnist for Rice Farming magazine.
Guidry’s office will be in Crowley about 15 minutes from where he grew up.
“This is very much a homecoming for me,” he says..