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Redmon, Adak Receive Vice Chancellor’s Awards in Excellence

14Jan

Congratulations to Larry Redmon, Ph.D. and Ph.D student Alper Adak who received Vice Chancellor Awards in Excellence this year. These awards recognize the commitment and outstanding contributions displayed by faculty, students and staff members across Texas A&M AgriLife.

Extension Education Awards

The Extension Specialist or Program Specialist Award was presented to Larry Redmon, Ph.D., professor and associate department head and AgriLife Extension program leader. Redmon’s educational presentations and seminars bring participants into the conversation, along with his expertise and ability to entertain audiences. The Ranch Management University, which draws participants from around the world, is one example. Evaluations have proven the annual event is highly effective in helping people adopt ranch management practices and land stewardship with an economic impact of $84 million. Redmon also spearheads the Bennett Trust programs. One of these programs caters specifically to women, providing them with the knowledge needed to make land stewardship and natural resource management decisions. Many attendees are new landowners and have little knowledge of where to begin with land ownership.

Research Awards

The Graduate Student Research Award recipient was Alper Adak, a doctoral student in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences. Since enrolling in his doctoral program in 2018, Adak has been the primary author of four peer-reviewed research articles, greatly exceeding the standard for students in his department. He has given invited talks at international conferences and been sought out as a peer reviewer for publications in his field. One of his accomplishments was to conceive of and create a way to utilize unmanned aircraft systems data from the corn breeding and quantitative genetics program to predict yield and flowering times. However, his primary project is to identify genes responsible for the late flowering of Texas A&M AgriLife germplasm in northern climates. His poster on that work won first prize in the largest division at the Crop Science Society International Meeting in 2019.

A full list of awards was announced in AgriLife Today.

Student recaps summer internship with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension water programs

7Aug

By: Beth Ann Luedeker

For ten weeks this summer, Chase Murphy, a junior majoring in ecological restoration, participated in a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension internship program in water resource protection and restoration. He recently discussed his experiences with faculty, staff and students via Zoom.

three people by creek with testing equipment

As part of the internship, Chase Murphy (kneeling) collected water samples and conducted tests on the Mill Creek near Bellville with Ed Rhodes and Gabriela Sosa of TWRI. (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension photo by Ward Ling).

A main component of the internship, and a favorite part for Murphy, was sampling water quality in the Mill Creek Watershed near Bellville. Through a contract with Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI), he participated in two sampling runs, and had the opportunity to use the same equipment used by water quality professionals. He took field measurements including transparency, water temperature, conductivity, pH, and dissolved oxygen, to name a few, and helped collect water samples for testing at the analytical laboratory.

Murphy also helped measure water flow in deep and shallow portions of the creeks using a river surveyor. This “boogie board” uses a Doppler flow sensor coupled with GPS to obtain highly accurate flow data.

“The river surveyor is calibrated by waving it around in the air,” Murphy said with a smile. “When they first told me to do that, I thought they were just hazing the new guy.”

young man with small raft covered by electronic equipment

Chase Murphy with the river surveyor used to collect flow data from the Mill Creek. (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension photo by Ward Ling)

The internship included much more than the fieldwork. Murphy also received professional trainings, including learning how to manage and update the Texas Watershed Stewards (TWS) and the Mill Creek Project websites. He helped record audio and video clips explaining the basics of a watershed, and posted the video on YouTube. He also served as a “second pair of eyes” to review and proof contracts, press releases, and other documents.

Each week, Murphy met with the specialists to discuss different aspects of watershed management and topics that aligned with his desire to explore environmental consulting as a career. This information could help him stand out among other graduates when he is ready to enter the job market.

“One of the biggest things I got out of this internship is the relationship,” Murphy said. “Everyone worked very hard to help me and I learned a lot about the steps to take after college.”

two men by creek with testing equipment

Intern Chase Murphy keeps an eye on the river surveyor as Ed Rhodes of TWRI records measurements sent by the device. (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension photo by Ward Ling)

“Though there are many benefits to an internship such as this, one unique aspect that comes to mind is our genuine desire to provide applicable, real-world experience,” said Michael Kuitu, AgriLife Extension Program Specialist in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences and one of the mentors for this internship. “We try our best to task an intern with the same, or similar, work we are doing so they may get applicable experience. Moreover, we try to ensure an environment in which they may ask questions pertinent to a career field they are interested in exploring.”

Murphy is the fourth student to go through the internship program, and while his experiences were similar to his predecessors, his internship was undeniably impacted by the ongoing pandemic.

“For most of the summer I was unable to be on campus, so a lot of the work had to be done from home,” Murphy said. “On the sampling trips, we all had to take separate vehicles.”

“Unfortunately Chase missed out on the conversations that happen in the office and on the way to sampling sites. There is no good substitute for those spontaneous interactions,” said Ward Ling, formerly a program specialist with Soil and Crop Sciences and now with Texas Water Resource Institute.

Chase also missed the opportunity to present to a live audience at a TWS program, but he did get to be part of the video.

“I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to experience the full capacity of the internship due to COVID, but I was able to make the most of the internship because everyone wants you to succeed,” Murphy said. “They answered countless questions and gave me a lot of advice.”

Murphy highly recommends this internship to other students and offers this admonition – “don’t be afraid to ask questions. Everyone is here to help.”

McKnight begins AgriLife Extension statewide cotton specialist duties

8May

By: Kay Ledbetter

Ben McKnight’s acceptance of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service statewide cotton specialist position is a return to familiar territory. McKnight started April 1 in the Texas A&M University Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at College Station.

Larry Redmon, Ph.D., associate department head and AgriLife Extension program leader for the department, said the Soil and Crop Sciences Extension Unit was excited to have McKnight fill the cotton specialist position in College Station.

Ben McKnight

Ben McKnight, Ph.D., is the new Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service statewide cotton specialist. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo)


“Ben is certainly no stranger to Texas having been born and raised in East Texas, or to Texas A&M as he obtained his master’s here in the Soil and Crop Sciences Department. We look forward to Ben developing a strong state-wide cotton program and presence.”
Experiences leading to cotton position

McKnight, Ph.D., worked for both Texas A&M AgriLife Research and AgriLife Extension while earning degrees at Texas A&M. He has spent the past few years working as a weed scientist with Louisiana State University, where he earned his doctorate.

During his postdoctoral research and as a research associate at LSU Agricultural Center, McKnight conducted rice field trials at research and grower locations. As a graduate research assistant, he worked in the Rice Weed Management Program conducting and managing field and glasshouse trials.

During his time with AgriLife Research, he assisted the Rice Weed Management research program with applying herbicide treatments, collecting and organizing data and harvesting research plots.

McKnight said his transition back to Texas and into cotton should be smooth because he is driven by solving problems as an agronomist.

“There are quite a few similarities between cotton and rice regarding the intensity of management,” he said. “Both require extensive management to produce a successful crop. I am looking forward to drawing from my past experiences working in rice management in this new position. Accepting this position is also a homecoming for me. As a Texas native, I am very familiar with the passion that our growers and industry have for cotton production.”
Arriving during a pandemic

McKnight said initially it will be a challenge to stay flexible during the COVID-19 pandemic to continue business as usual.

“However, our agency is employing innovative solutions in order to continue carrying out our mission during this unprecedented time,” he said. “We have some exceptional leadership and they’ve been in close contact throughout the COVID-19 pandemic with information as it evolves. I anticipate there will be an impact on upcoming grower meetings, field days and face-to-face meetings, but I am confident we will continue to provide the best outreach to our clientele.”

He said it appears producers are going about business as usual and crops are still being planted, and distributors, supply stores and other agriculture-related businesses are still open.

“One issue I expect producers to face this year is changes in commodity prices,” McKnight said. “The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on our cotton markets, but I think it still might be too early to tell what kind of overall impact it is going to have on commodity prices.”
Planning for future cotton research

From a field research standpoint, the plan is to continue evaluating many different research topics of interest to cotton production in the state, he said.

“One of the most important roles in this position is variety testing and getting the results of variety evaluations into the hands of our growers,” McKnight said. “Our program will continue to be very active in variety evaluation so our growers will have the information they need for on-farm decision making.”

He said some of the applied research efforts of his team will involve evaluation of fertility programs across the state, control of volunteer cotton plants and stalk destruction, just to highlight a few. Several of these research topics will be collaborative efforts with many other researchers, AgriLife Extension specialists and county agents.

“Some of my longer-term research interests include evaluating how various management decisions translate into profitability for our growers,” McKnight said. “Unfortunately, the highest yield doesn’t always translate into the highest level of profitability, and profitability is what keeps our growers in business.

“I am very passionate about helping growers develop management practices that increase their profitability. Our agency has many outstanding agricultural economists. I look forward to working closely with them to identify what kind of region-specific management decisions can enhance grower profitability.”
Outreach and education

McKnight said the COVID-19 pandemic will immediately impact his initial plans for outreach and education programming.

“I was looking forward to personally meeting our stakeholders across the state soon after starting in this position,” he said. “As of right now, I’m not sure how that will be impacted. Technology will be instrumental to keeping everyone in close communication and business running the best it can in these trying times.”

He plans to make initial contacts with stakeholders and AgriLife Extension and research professionals across the state in the coming weeks. However, he said, it will have to be either via telephone or online-based video conference platforms.

Long-term outreach and educational programming include continuing to work with others to develop high-quality resources, outreach and educational programs that improve Texas agriculture.

“I really enjoy interacting with people, so my hope is things will begin to normalize soon,” McKnight said. “I’m looking forward to getting out in the state to meet our stakeholders and my new colleagues. I’m a very hands-on learner, and I believe that most people in agriculture are too. So, I look forward to participating in field days and grower meetings, in addition to working with others to develop hands-on training activities for our county agents, producers and clientele in the future.”

AgriLife Extension hires new small grains specialist

26Mar

By: Kay Ledbetter

The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service has hired Fernando Guillen, Ph.D., as the new statewide small grains and oilseed crops specialist in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at Texas A&M University. He officially started March 1.

Fernando Guillen Portal

Fernando Guillen, Ph.D., is the new Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service statewide small grains and oilseed crops specialist. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Beth Ann Luedeker)


“Dr. Guillen brings a wealth of agronomic experience to AgriLife Extension’s small grains program, and we are excited to have him joining our department and extension unit,” said Larry Redmon, Ph.D., associate department head and AgriLife Extension program leader for the department.
Guillen brings experience
Coming to Texas from Bozeman, Montana, Guillen was a private consultant and a research associate at Montana State University. He earned his master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and his bachelor’s degree from the Juan Misael Saracho Bolivian University in Bolivia. He also was a postdoctoral research scientist at the Northwestern Agricultural Research Center for Montana State University, Kalispell, Montana.
His past research relates to the development and application of new ways to better understand relative changes in cultivar productivity as a result of varying growing conditions in a target region, also known as genotype-by-environment interactions.
Also, Guillen said he includes using innovative crop management protocols to increase crop productivity in his research. Examples would be the use of integrated pest management strategies for weed control and the use of micronutrients as yield enhancers in wheat.
Guillen’s plant breeding activities include developing varieties in corn and wheat, as well as grain amaranth and camelina crops. Most recently, he led the camelina breeding program at Sustainable Oils LLC for the development of superior cultivars to be used as a feedstock for biofuel production. He also worked with their wheat tilling research program at Targeted Growth Inc., which was aimed at identifying specific, proprietary mutation-altered genes with a positive impact in yield.
Guillen’s plans for Texas position
“I believe the Texas small grains specialist position is a strong match between the position’s objectives and my professional background,” Guillen said. “Even before applying for this position, I knew the small grains breeding program at Texas A&M was doing a superb job in the development of superior cultivars in small grains, mainly wheat, for the different wheat growing regions in Texas.
“From a genetic perspective, I was glad to see that the small grains breeding program is already implementing state-of-the-art strategies like the use of gene-editing tools with the ultimate goal of yield enhancement,” he said.
Guillen said it is well recognized that increases in crop productivity arise from the use of both superior genetics and the adoption of optimum crop management protocols for commercial production.
“Thus, my interest falls into defining and using crop management protocols that allow the maximization of productivity of elite wheat cultivars developed for Texas, which in essence consists in closing the gap between the yield potential of a cultivar under optimum growing conditions and the observed yield of a cultivar at the farm level,” he said.
AgriLife Extension outreach needed
“This will require a precise measure of the observed yield gap in the target regions,” he said. “It also requires identifying the major underlying factors explaining the gap, adopting crop management protocols conducive to directly or indirectly reducing the gap, and effectively transferring the technology to the farm.”
To accomplish this, the involvement of agronomists, specialists, plant breeders, soil scientists, plant pathologists, weed scientists and economists is needed, which can be seen as a challenge, he said. “But I prefer to see it as a unique opportunity instead.”
The bottom line is it is one thing to know what is required and another to get the farmers to use it, Guillen said.
“That requires a transfer of technology, and that is where AgriLife Extension is important,” he said.
Other grains and oilseeds
Guillen said his focus will not be on wheat alone. He will work with oats, barley and other small grains as well as oilseed crops such as camelina and canola.
“I have a lot of experience in camelina and collaborated on it with Dr. Gaylon Morgan here in Texas in the past,” he said. “I will try to reintroduce it in those areas where we believe there is potential and also work with canola if the opportunity arises.”
Guillen said when he first started working with camelina in Montana, no one knew anything about the crop, “so we had to show farmers how to grow it through Extension practices. I plan to use that same Extension networking to work with all the important crops here in Texas.”

Video series to highlight cotton education and highlight northern Panhandle best management practices

19Jun

Writer: Kay Ledbetter
Contact: Dr. Jourdan Bell, Jourdan.Bell@ag.tamu.edu

“Cotton and Conservation” is the title of a new series of videos being developed by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and North Plains Groundwater Conservation District.

Dr. Jourdan Bell, AgriLife Extension agronomist in Amarillo, said she is excited about this new partnership that will report on cotton development and irrigation conservation at demonstration sites throughout the water district.

“We’ll use the video series to describe the growth stage of the cotton, any insect or disease pressure and report on irrigation, soil moisture and any management variables,” said Kirk Welch, North Plains Groundwater Conservation District assistant general manager, public outreach, Dumas. “This will help producers in the North Plains better manage their cotton in hopes of saving water while maintaining or increasing yield.”

The weekly video series will be posted on the North Plains Groundwater Conservation District Cotton and Conservation web page, https://northplainsgcd.org/cotton.

cotton in field with harvester in background

“Cotton and Conservation” video series designed to help producers in the North Plains save water while maintaining yields.

The total planted cotton acreage across the eight counties that comprise the North Plains Groundwater Conservation District has increased approximately 283,000 acres from 2013 to 2018. Of that, the irrigated cotton acreage has increased from 46,557 to 250,221 acres during this five-year period.

Bell said as cotton acreage has expanded into the northwestern corner of the Panhandle, it is important to account for weekly development of the cotton crop and evaluate the accumulation of growing degree days with respect to key growth stages for the region.

“What we have seen as cotton has progressed further north is that the development does not necessarily agree with growing-degree calendars from other cotton-producing regions,” she said.

Growing degree day accumulation and the cotton plant development is a standard across the globe for cotton, Bell said, because heat drives the development of the cotton plant.

To help producers stay on top of their crop, Bell created an accounting process for AgriLife Extension agents to record plant development and field conditions over each week at the six locations. Weather stations were set up at each location to monitor the daily temperatures.

Helping provide information for the project will be AgriLife Extension agriculture and natural resources agents Scott Strawn, Ochiltree; Mike Bragg, Dallam and Hartley; Marcel Fischbacher, Moore; Kristy Slough, Hutchinson; J.R. Sprague, Lipscomb; and a regional agronomy agent covering Dallam, Hartley, Sherman and Moore counties.

“This is a great opportunity to increase educational programming in cotton irrigation management as regional groundwater levels decline across the Texas Panhandle,” Bell said. “Where producers may be unable to meet the water demand for many crops, cotton is a viable alternative for northern Texas Panhandle irrigated acres.”

Due to variable precipitation patterns, irrigation is necessary to stabilize and optimize cotton production as with other irrigated crops, she said, but because cotton is drought-tolerant, it is poised to increase on dryland acres as seen in recent years.

Management strategies vary between irrigated and dryland production systems, so this educational programming can help increase profitability on dryland acres and allow producers to concentrate irrigation supplies to enhance the profitability of irrigated acreage, Bell said.

Since the northern Texas Panhandle is a short-season cotton production region, variety selection is a critical decision. Texas A&M AgriLife currently has five Replicated Agronomic Cotton Evaluations, or RACE variety trials, across the water district coordinated by Bell.

These provide an unbiased evaluation of key varieties positioned for the Texas Panhandle region under different environmental and management systems. These trials evaluate not only the yield potential of top varieties but also variety stability.

“The 2019 results will be especially important because we are able to evaluate cotton development under unfavorable planting conditions,” Bell said.

She explained the abundant rains and standing water have caused planting and seeding issues. These unfavorable conditions have already caused the loss of the planned field sites in Hutchinson and Ochiltree counties.

“These varieties have a shorter bloom period and are generally more determinant than full-season varieties,” she said. “As a result, earlier maturing varieties are often unable to recover from in-season stress, so monitoring their environment, available heat units and water needs is key to helping producers make educated decisions in their cotton production moving forward.”

Pigg new coordinator of Texas Well Owner Network program

23Apr

Writer: Kay Ledbetter
Contact: Joel Pigg, 979-845-1461, j-pigg@tamu.edu
Dr. Diane Boellstorff, 979-458-3562, dboellstorff@tamu.edu

David “Joel” Pigg is combining his Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and water conservation district experiences in his new position as the Texas Well Owner Network, or TWON, coordinator.

Pigg began his new position April 15, and is located in the Texas A&M University soil and crop sciences department at College Station.

Joel Pigg

David “Joel” Pigg joins the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences as the new coordinator for the Texas Well Owners Network.

The TWON program, http://twon.tamu.edu/, provides private water well screenings and wellhead protection educational trainings to private water well managers.

“I’m very excited to be back in the soil and crop sciences department after spending the last 12 years in Real County,” Pigg said. “I look forward to working with our AgriLife Extension agents, groundwater district personnel and private water well owners across the state to help them learn about water quality and help them protect this valuable resource.”

Pigg, a native of Brownfield, earned his bachelor’s degree from Southwestern University and a master’s degree from Texas Tech University in Lubbock. He worked for eight years as an AgriLife Extension associate in the soil and crop sciences department before spending almost four years as an AgriLife Extension county agent in Real County.

He has spent the past eight years as the general manager of the Real-Edwards Conservation and Reclamation District in Camp Wood, vice chair of the Plateau Regional Water Planning Group and coordinator and presiding officer for Groundwater Management Area No. 7.

“With Joel’s experience as an AgriLife Extension agent and associate, he well understands the agency and our role in the state and delivering educational programming,” said Dr. Diane Boellstorff, AgriLife Extension water resources specialist in the department of soil and crop sciences.

“His past work experiences have required that he work with the public and organizational representatives at county, regional and state levels to accomplish water management goals,” she said. “He is uniquely prepared to quickly assume full TWON coordinator responsibilities, allowing us to continue efficiently fulfilling deliverables for this key project.”

Funding for TWON is through a Clean Water Act nonpoint source grant provided by the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The project is managed by the Texas Water Resources Institute, part of Texas A&M AgriLife Research, AgriLife Extension and the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

2019 Hill Country land stewardship conference set for April 25-26

12Feb

Writer: Kay Ledbetter, 806-677-5608, skledbetter@ag.tamu.edu
Contact: Dr. Larry Redmon, 979-845-4826, l-redmon@tamu.edu

The Hill Country has its own special needs when it comes to managing livestock and wildlife and incorporating the millions of individuals who come to vacation, hunt and relax in the ranching environments.

The sixth annual Hill Country Land Stewardship Conference hosted by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service offers a chance for landowners in the region to learn more about addressing issues that arise when ranching and tourism combine, said Dr. Larry Redmon, AgriLife Extension program leader, College Station.

man pouring water into trays with different types of ground cover

Matt Brown demonstrated water runoff rates at the 2018 Bennett Trust Land Stewardship Conference in Kerrville. (Texas A&M Soil and Crop Sciences photo by Beth Ann Luedeker)

“We keep coming back and offering speakers on everything from grazing to prescribed fire and legal issues to wildlife management because our clientele in the region say they want to learn more,” Redmon said.

The 2019 conference will be held April 25-26 at the YO Ranch Hotel and Conference Center in Kerrville. On-site registration, check-in and breakfast begin at 7:30 a.m. April 25 at the Y.O. Ranch Hotel, 2033 Sidney Baker St. The program will begin at 8:30 a.m.

The conference fee is $75 and includes all meals, break refreshments and tour transportation costs. Registration is now open and preregistration will be available through April 15 at agriliferegister.tamu.edu/bennetttrustor 979-845-2604.

Redmon said several speakers will offer insight on some of the less-thought-of aspects of ranching or land ownership.

Topics and speakers include:

  • Managing for Unwanted Plant Species, Dr. Robert Lyons, AgriLife Extension range specialist, Uvalde.
  • Birding in the Hill Country, Dr. Maureen Frank, AgriLife Extension wildlife specialist, Uvalde.
  • Top Laws Texas Landowners Need to Know, Dr. Tiffany Dowell Lashmet, AgriLife Extension agricultural law specialist, Amarillo.
  • Using Prescribed Burning on Your Property, Dr. Morgan Treadwell, AgriLife Extension range specialist, San Angelo.
  • How to Incorporate Exotics, Charly Seale, Exotic Wildlife Association executive director, Kerrville.
  • Managing Your Whitetail Deer, Redmon.
  • The second day of the conference will be dedicated to tours. Attendees will pick from tours of the Hillingdon Ranch in Kendall County, where legacy management will be discussed, or the Cimarron Ranch in Kerr County, where wildlife management will be the topic.

    For more information, contact Linda Francis at L-francis@tamu.edu or an AgriLife Extension agent in the region, or go to http://agrilife.org/bennetttrust/.

    woman talking to seated audience

    Participants at the 2018 Bennett Trust Land Stewardship Conference in Kerrville learned about different animal tracks from Annalise Scoggins from Texas Parks and Wildlife. (TAMU Soil and Crop Sciences photo by Beth Ann Luedeker)

AgriLife Extension recognizes Superior Service

30Jan

The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service presented its Superior Service Awards, the agency’s highest honors, during a ceremony at the AgriLife Center January 8. Several members of the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences were among those honored.

Ranch Management University earned a team award and Ward Ling received the Superior Service – Extension Program Specialist award.

group of people posing with plaques

Dr. Bob Whitson, Interim Associate Director for State Operations (left) and Dr. Parr Rosson, Interim Director AgriLife Extension (right), presented the awards to Ranch Management University team members Matt Brown, Dr. Larry Redmon, Dr. Jason Cleere, (back row) Linda Francis and Dr. Jim Cathey (front row). Not pictured is team member Dr. David Anderson. (TAMU Soil and Crop Sciences photo by Beth Ann Luedeker)

The Ranch Management University (RMU) team is led by Dr. Larry Redmon, Associate Department Head for Extension in Soil and Crop Sciences. Team members include Dr. David Anderson, economist-livestock marketing; Dr. Jason Cleere, beef cattle specialist; Linda Francis, Soil and Crop Sciences administrative coordinator; Matt Brown, Soil and Crop Sciences program specialist; and Dr. Jim Cathey, Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute associate director.

RMU was established in 2010 to address a growing population of absentee landowners who have grown up in urban environments and lack formal training in the management of natural resources. It is held twice each year, in April and October.

According to the nomination, the five-day course provides basic information regarding economically and environmentally sound management of soil, plant, animal and water resources, and introduces participants to the educational resources available to them through AgriLife Extension.

The workshop combines classroom instruction with field demonstrations in a range of subjects including sprayer calibration, hay sampling, aquatic weed identification and management, soil sampling, beef cattle management, and feral hog control.

To date, attendees have come to College Station from all over Texas and from California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Costa Rica for the workshop.

three people posing at awards ceremony

Ward Ling, center, received the Superior Service – Extension Program Specialist award from Dr. Bob Whitson and Dr. Parr Rosson. (TAMU Soil and Crop Sciences photo by Beth Ann Luedeker)

Program Specialist Ward Ling is the coordinator of both the Geronimo/Alligator Creeks watershed and the Mill Creek watershed.

He joined the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences in 2009 to oversee the development and implementation of a watershed protection plan for the Geronimo and Alligator Creeks watershed, adding the Mill Creek watershed in 2018.

Ling’s primary duty is to educate stakeholders in the watersheds in best management practices for their activities and to encourage the vountary adoption of these practices. He also performs due diligence for projects planned along the creeks to ensure that the creeks are not damaged.

“Before coming to AgriLife Extension, I worked in a regulatory program of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). This job appealed to me because of its voluntary nature,” Ling stated.

Protection of a watershed is a long term committment by stakeholders within that watershed. It took three years for Ling and the stakeholders to develop the watershed protection plan (WPP) and get it approved by the TCEQ. Now he is implementing programs to educate stakeholders, both agricultural landowners and urban residents.

“My job is to increase awareness and to educate people so they want to adopt these practices,” he said. “They are not building any more creeks and rivers so we need to protect what we have.”

Ling’s programs include septic system maintenance, water well management and creek clean-ups.

“We started doing annual watershed clean-up along the Alligator and Geronimo creeks in 2013 and usually have between 150 – 200 people participate,” he said. “In the six years of the project we have had 1,120 volunteers and taken 16,000 pounds of trash out of the watershed.”

Noland joins as agronomist in San Angelo

17Dec

Writer: Blair Fannin

Dr. Reagan Noland has joined the soil and crop sciences department as the the AgriLife Extension agronomist specializing in crop management at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center in San Angelo.

It’s a homecoming of sorts for Noland, who grew up in the San Angelo area helping his grandparents with farm and ranch production.

Reagan Noland

Dr. Reagan Noland has joined the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at San Angelo as the new AgriLife Extension agronomist specializing in crop management. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo)

“I am excited to be back here, and I look forward to serving the agricultural community and working to improve the resilience and profitability of our systems,” Noland said. “Agriculture plays a vital role in the economy of this region, and maintaining long-term productivity relies on an integrated approach to crop, soil, and water management, particularly in our often-dry climate. I hope my experience in this area will benefit producers in West Central Texas.”

Noland said he is eager to begin developing programming designed to help producers in cotton, wheat, corn and grain sorghum, as well as annual and perennial forages.

“There is great potential for diverse and integrated production in this region. Many farm operations also manage livestock or have access to regional feed and hay markets,” he said. “I look forward to developing educational programming that covers a broad range of cropping systems management and identifies opportunities to improve production.”

Noland was previously the grain crops extension specialist at the University of Georgia. He has a bachelor’s degree in natural resource management from Angelo State University, a master’s degree in agronomy from Texas A&M University and a doctorate in agronomy and agroecology from the University of Minnesota.

Noland is a member of the American Society of Agronomy and the Crop Science Society of America.

Maeda joins AgriLife Extension cotton program in Lubbock

16Nov

Writer: Kay Ledbetter, 806-677-5608, skledbetter@ag.tamu.edu
Contact: Dr. Murilo Maeda, 806-746-6101, mmaeda@ag.tamu.edu

Dr. Murilo Maeda is returning to his roots when he trades the Texas coast for the South Plains to take the position as Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service cotton specialist in Lubbock, effective Oct. 1.

“My family’s roots run deep into the cotton industry, and I would like to contribute to its improvement,” Maeda said, as he leaves his position as a Texas A&M AgriLife Research assistant research scientist in Corpus Christi.

“Working out of the Corpus Christi center, I had the opportunity to work with many different crops, but cotton is special to me,” he said. “With that being said, there is no better place than the Southern High Plains to work with cotton.”

Murilo Maeda

Dr. Murilo Maeda has joined the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service cotton program in Lubbock. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo)

As he makes the move to Lubbock, Maeda brings with him a growing expertise on using unmanned aerial systems, or UAS, to assist cotton research.

Maeda said the transition from AgriLife Research to AgriLife Extension will be a change in day-to-day focus as program activities shift to more traditional outreach/educational/applied research.

“But the main goals are still the same – improve agriculture, food security and farmers’ well-being; to make a difference in someone’s life, to have a long-lasting impact,” he said.

With AgriLife Research, his primary focus was UAS platforms and methodologies for high-throughput plant phenotyping and UAS-based applications for plant breeding, agricultural research and precision management applications.

Maeda earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Centro Universitário do Triângulo, Brazil, and master’s and doctorate degrees in agronomy/crop physiology from Texas A&M. Before moving to the U.S., he worked at Netafim Brasil assisting in the development of precision irrigation systems for commercial coffee and citrus farms and with TCMA Agropecuária Ltda, assisting with large soybean, cotton, and corn commercial operations across Brazil.

In 2005, he joined Deltapine/Monsanto’s cotton breeding program as a research assistant. In this position, he served as the breeder’s assistant, designed and conducted breeding research trials across the Brazilian cotton-growing regions, managed breeding-associated field tasks, as well as research databases.

After leaving Deltapine/Monsanto in 2010, Maeda moved to College Station to pursue his master’s and doctorate degrees. While working on his degrees, he served as a graduate teaching/research assistant for the cotton physiology program and the department of soil and crop sciences.

His degrees focused on the morphological and physiological responses of cotton to drought and high-temperature stress, and at Corpus Christi, he was responsible for managing the development of a cropping systems and remote sensing program for agricultural research and crop precision management applications.

Because the South Plains is a completely different region from the Coastal Bend, Maeda said he will need to spend time adapting to the regional culture and farming practices. There will also be a need to establish new working relationships with allied industry, a regional network of county and integrated pest management agents, as well as colleagues both in and out of the Texas A&M University System.

But the South Plains cotton industry also has plenty of issues to put him to work right away.

“You name it: lack of adequate rainfall, hail storms, dwindling water supply for irrigation, pest pressure, diseases, herbicide-resistant weeds, soil fertility, off-target movement of herbicides, crop management issues, and the list goes on,” Maeda said.

“The South Plains is a challenging environment, but that also means there are opportunities to improve. Thankfully, the region is well served with some of the best people working with cotton in the nation and in the world, and by collaborating I am confident we can make a difference.”

One area he is excited to expand in that region is the UAS technology, which he said has great potential to change how agriculture research and farming will be done in the future.

“UAS provides a level of information about the crop’s responses to the environment and/or experimental treatments that we did not have access to before,” Maeda said. “I plan to continue collaborating with our colleagues at Corpus Christi and across the U.S.

“The ultimate goal for me in this new role as it relates to UAS technology is to participate in the development, validation and deployment of UAS-based tools for crop monitoring and management that will improve our farmers’ efficiency and overall farm sustainability.”

As UAS-based educational tools are developed, those will be a great addition to AgriLife Extension’s outreach efforts, he said.

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