Fontenot’s retirement isn’t goodbye

After a 36-year career at the LSU Agricultural Center in Ville Platte, Agriculture Adult Agent Keith Fontenot is saying goodbye, kind of.
Even though his retirement was official on October 31, 2015 Fontenot is not quite ready to give it up. Fontenot, who will begin working part-time soon, said, “I always tell people that as long as I feel good enough I am going to be out there working.”
It’s that very contagious attitude that Fontenot has used to touch the lives of the people he has come in contact with as an educator, then 4-H Youth Agent, and finally as an Agriculture Adult Agent.
Fontenot began his career with the LSU Ag Center in December of 1979. His first title was 4-H Youth Agent. It was during his time working with 4-H kids that Fontenot first realized how much he and other agents at the LSU Ag Center affect the lives of their youth.
“I remember one time a Judge we use to have here in Evangeline Parish said to me, you know Keith I never see 4-H kids come up in court,” Fontenot said. “It made me feel good to know that.”
As 4-H Youth Agent Fontenot dealt with kids in both school settings and at activities like summer camps and the parish livestock shows, which Fontenot was in-charge of preparing for, along with other agents.
Fontenot said that the job has been one that “demands you plan ahead and always be organized.” He also said, “Most people think that the summers are slow for the 4-H Youth Agent because school is out but I always tell them that is actually our busiest time of year because of summer camp.”
Even with a schedule that sometimes left Fontenot away from his wife Vickie, daughter Natalie, and son Justin for longer than he would have liked to be, his desire and dedication to provide agricultural assistance to anyone needing or wanting it never went away.
After 17-years of 4-H work, Fontenot moved into a new position at the same LSU Ag Center location.
The position of Agriculture Adult Agent required Fontenot to venture into work that focused on providing services to the many farmers in Evangeline Parish.
It was during his time in this position that Fontenot helped begin the Rice Verification Program in Evangeline Parish. This program is used to provide farmers with information on growing rice, which Fontenot said is learned “through planting crops on what we call test plots and documenting what we see happens when we use certain products.”
Fontenot said, “We then inform the farmers about the data we have collected.”
This program has become one that Fontenot said “can be challenging because when it comes to planting test crops, the weather will decide everything.”
However, when Fontenot returns to work part-time he will be spending his time working with the Rice Verification Program. The challenge has not deterred Fontenot from the job. Instead Fontenot said, “The challenge makes it more enjoyable.”
When Fontenot returns to the office in January, he has it planned out to where he will still get to feel like a retired man when it counts. Fontenot said, “I’m going to continue working with the rice program which is only from January to August. It will end just in time for hunting, which I plan on doing a lot of.”