Writer: Kay Ledbetter, 806-677-5608, skledbetter@ag.tamu.edu
Contact: Jonathan Ramirez, 940-552-9941, ext. 249, JHRamirez@ag.tamu.edu

COLLEGE STATION – Jonathan Ramirez, a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service associate at Vernon, has been recognized with a Superior Service award in program support by the agency.

The annual Superior Service awards, presented Jan. 9 in Bryan, recognize AgriLife Extension personnel who provide outstanding performance in education or other outstanding service to the organization and Texans.

Ramirez joined AgriLife Extension in 2011. His nomination cited his organization of numerous agency activities, including 74 applied research trials and 48 demonstration plots.

AgriLife Extension’s Rolling Plains agronomy program and county agents together conducted five wheat field days during spring 2017 at wheat demonstration plots organized by Ramirez, said Dr. Emi Kimura, AgriLife Extension agronomist, Vernon.

A total of 140 wheat producers attended field days, she said. The economic impact to the region was estimated at $790,776, as wheat producers can potentially improve grain yield through attending these educational opportunities and applying what they learn.

As a key member of the AgriLife Extension cotton team in the Rolling Plains, Ramirez also conducted over 30 variety trials throughout the region, and was instrumental in coordinating experiments evaluating the use of the fungicide Topguard for management of cotton root rot, Kimura said.

He also modified and designed pieces of equipment that increased the ability and efficiency to conduct on-farm trials, she said.

Dale Dunlap, AgriLife Extension district administrator at Vernon, said, “Jonathan’s strong work ethic has caused him to be highly regarded by several AgriLife Extension county agents in District 3, specifically for his enthusiasm, practical skills and ability to get things done and communicate with growers and other personnel within the farming industry.”

Ramirez participates in annual in-field AgriLife Extension county agent cotton training in District 3, where he prepares herbicide injury plots to simulate herbicide drift issues for cotton producers in the Rolling Plains, Dunlap said. He also demonstrates application of back-pack sprayers and the differences among nozzles during the training.

Ramirez participates in professional development opportunities by attending and submitting abstracts and proceedings to Beltwide Cotton Conferences since 2012, Kimura said.

“Jonathan has proven to be a dedicated worker willing to go the extra mile to complete the job at hand,” said Dr. Paul DeLaune, Texas A&M AgriLife Research environmental soil scientist in Vernon. “He is very accommodating and brings a lot of real-world knowledge to the table. As a result, he is highly respected by fellow AgriLife Extension and Research co-workers, industry partners and perhaps most importantly, producers.”

Writer: Kay Ledbetter, 806-677-5608, skledbetter@ag.tamu.edu
Contact: Daniel Hathcoat, 979-862-4365, dhathcoat@tamu.edu

COLLEGE STATION – Daniel Hathcoat, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service small grains and oilseeds program specialist in College Station, has been recognized with a Superior Service award in the program specialist, manager or coordinator category by the agency.

The annual Superior Service awards, presented Jan. 9 in Bryan, recognize AgriLife Extension personnel who provide outstanding performance in education or other outstanding service to the organization and Texans.

Hathcoat’s nomination cited his work in obtaining and preparing seed for trials, maintaining plots and supervising data collection for numerous agronomic studies conducted throughout the state.

The extensive statewide uniform wheat variety trial conducted each year heavily relies on Hathcoat’s leadership to coordinate with seven other research programs in order to plant 30 locations over the course of three months, wrote Dr. Clark Neely, AgriLife Extension state small grains and oilseed specialist, College Station.

“In the past, Daniel collected seed from numerous seed sources around the country and distributed that seed for planting in nine of the 12 AgriLife Extension districts in Texas, in addition to overseeing the day-to-day maintenance and harvest of five of the 30 trials,” Neely said in his nomination.

Hathcoat’s contributions have made a direct impact on other AgriLife Extension programs also, Neely said, including forage, weed and soil fertility programs in order to help expand their capacities through planting and harvesting plots, repairing equipment or mentoring other program specialists.

In addition to variety testing, the Small Grains and Oilseeds Program continues to expand its scope of research projects, Neely said. That requires Hathcoat to plant, maintain and harvest over 40 additional trials spread across 11 locations statewide.

These agronomic trials evaluate a variety of products and management practices, including fertility, fungicide, insecticide, herbicide, planting date, crop rotation and plant growth regulators on small grains forage, wheat, oat, barley, canola and soybeans, Neely said, adding Hathcoat’s actions demonstrate the diversity of his abilities and time management skills.

“Daniel has the ability to get a lot done is a short amount of time, which in my opinion increases the capacity of the Small Grain and Oilseeds Extension Program by 25 percent or more, including the number of educational programs attended and number of trials conducted,” Neely said.

Hathcoat routinely speaks at producer meetings and field days, of which there have been 16 since 2013, and has co-authored five scientific journal articles, 17 AgriLife Extension publications, 13 county AgriLife Extension reports and 23 scientific abstracts over the past five years as the small grains and oilseeds program specialist.

Included in Hathcoat’s nomination were comments from Michael Berry, AgriLife Extension agent for Comanche County. Hathcoat had spoken at Berry’s forage field day.

“Following our field day, we went about the long process of harvesting the trials,” Berry said. “Unfortunately, as we were getting close to completion, the fuel pump wiring melted, making the harvester inoperable. Not to worry, Daniel retrieved his tool box and box of supplies and rewired the pump. We were able to complete harvest.”

Writer: Kay Ledbetter, 806-677-5608, skledbetter@ag.tamu.edu
Contact: Kirk Jessup, 806-354-5817, kirk.jessup@ag.tamu.edu

COLLEGE STATION – Kirk Jessup, Texas A&M AgriLife Research senior research associate in Amarillo, has been awarded the Vice Chancellor’s Award of Excellence for technical and programmatic staff.

The Vice Chancellor awards program was established in 1980 to recognize the commitment and outstanding contributions of faculty and staff across Texas A&M AgriLife.

Since 2010, Jessup has provided technical support and leadership to the crop stress physiology research program, said his supervisor Dr. Qingwu Xue, AgriLife Research crop stress physiologist in Amarillo.

The program focuses on understanding the physiological mechanisms of crop performance under stress conditions, particularly under drought stress and typically involves 15-20 field and greenhouse studies each year. Jessup supervises other staff, graduate students and student workers to ensure all project objectives are completed in an accurate and timely manner.

“Kirk was hired as a technician and promoted to research assistant in 2011, research associate in 2012 and senior research associate in 2014 due to his exceptional job performance,” Xue said. “He has played a critical role in many research projects in our program.

“With his participation and leadership, we are able to complete our field activities promptly and thoroughly each year. He not only understands the overall research goals and objectives in each project but also is very creative in developing protocols for data collections.”

Also, because projects in crop physiology are cross-cutting issues among all crop-focused projects in Amarillo, Jessup has had to extend his knowledge and expertise to disciplines other than plant physiology, Xue said.

“Kirk routinely assumes the responsibility of liaison between cooperating programs and is responsible for data collections that range from soil sampling to plant biomass sampling to taking physiological measurements with delicate instrumentation,” Xue said. “His dedication, technical skills, expertise and overall leadership attributes have been particularly noteworthy in collaborations with the agronomy, wheat breeding and irrigation management programs.”

Each year, the program collects over 10,000 points of data physically, ranging from plants to soils, and from corn to wheat to sorghum and cotton, Xue said. Jessup has meticulously maintained high data quality, and not only ensures the completion of the data collections but also summarizes and analyzes them well.

“He holds the highest standards for managing our field and greenhouse trials,” Xue said. “In particular, field research plots require extremely high maintenance from planting to irrigation to pest control to harvesting. Kirk has been working diligently to assure our research plots have healthy plants and are free of weeds and other pests, which ensures high quality field data.”

Academically, Jessup has co-authored 13 journal articles since 2013 and numerous abstracts and presentations related to the crop stress physiology research program. Most recently, he submitted a disclosure of invention on an improved chemical-protective apron for pesticide handlers.

The Texas A&M University department of soil and crop sciences presented him with the 2015 Field Technical Staff Award, saying he is an excellent example of the quality of personnel who would be an asset to any organization. He was also honored as 2016 Team Builder of the Year in the Amarillo Center and a recipient of Texan Caring for Texans Award in 2017.