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It has been a great year for the Texas A&M Soil and Crop Sciences Department. As we are in the midst of our annual evaluations and preparing plans for the next year, it is good to reflect on some of the department's highlights.
- Our teaching efforts included initiating an undergraduate curriculum review and starting efforts in increasing undergraduate enrollment, especially new freshman, this semester. We had several graduate student presentations receive top awards, including Sarah Kezar and Kushboo Rastogi.
- With last year’s high priority of establishing a more focused research area to support soil resiliency, soil health and carbon sequestration, the coordination, participation and success with the announced climate smart awards are huge. The success in soils grant funding has become a bright spot, and this will lead to a big increase next year. Also, grant expenditures are up in general.
- Our AgriLife Extension specialists coordinated variety trials at dozens of sites (on-farm and at centers) across Texas. The wheat trials alone are projected to have a $100 million economic impact on Texas, and all Extension trials combined (including weed control) lead to producer decisions that approach $1 billion per year.
- We also have an enhanced focus on water with several programs, including a major program that is a pillar at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Dallas developed by Becky Grubbs, Ph.D. This successful program has been amplified by several other water programs within our department including our watershed protection planning programs such as the Mill Creek Watershed, Texas Watershed Stewards, Healthy Lawns and Healthy Waters, Lone Star Healthy Streams, and the Texas Well Owner Network. These programs continue to educate both urban and rural clientele regarding water conservation and quality issues. We wish Dr. Grubbs the best as she transitions to a new role at the University of Tennessee.
- We have new varieties in several crops:
- Cobalt turfgrass, a drought tolerant St. Augustine, is one example.
- Interest in fiber quality traits in cotton by industry is leading to the first significant market opportunities in some time for our cultivar program.
- We have developed a strong hemp program that lays the foundation for significant venture capital expenditures to grow the industry.
- Partnership work has developed to improve resistance to FOV4 and management strategies in cotton.
- Big opportunities in plant breeding have re-emerged in bioenergy
- We are providing world leadership including peanuts.
- Wheat varieties released by the Texas A&M AgriLife Research wheat breeding programs continue to be planted on more than a million acres in Texas. Seven of the top 10 most popular varieties grown in Texas are from our programs. These varieties are also widely grown in Oklahoma and Kansas.
- Agronomic efforts continue to define the Best Management Practices for nearly every acre planted in Texas. Foundational agronomic work in turfgrass, hemp and biological nitrification inhibition (major international collaboration), along with breakthrough developments in weed ecology, make us world agronomic leaders.
Thanks & Gig 'em!
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| David Baltensperger, Ph.D.
Professor and Department Head
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Top News from Soil and Crop Sciences
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Texas A&M AgriLife exhibits production strengths at Wheat 101
In February, Amir Ibrahim, Ph.D., visited Washington, D.C., to represent the department and Texas A&M AgriLife to members of Congress during Wheat 101 hosted by the National Wheat Foundation. Ibrahim showed lawmakers the importance and value of wheat breeding research to the food supply chain and the economy.
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Faculty, staff honored with Texas A&M AgriLife Vice Chancellor's Awards
Several faculty and staff received honors during the AgriLife Connect conference in January with the Texas A&M AgriLife Vice Chancellor’s Awards. These are the highest awards given by the agency.
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AgriLife Extension honors employees with Superior Service Awards
Three people in the department received Superior Service Awards from the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service during the Texas A&M AgriLife Connect conference in January.
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Faculty, staff, students honored during annual departmental meeting
Congratulations to all our faculty, staff and students who received awards during the Soil and Crop Sciences’ annual meeting held on January 14 in College Station.
The department recognized the retirement of Jaroy Moore, Ph.D., center director, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Lubbock. Fifteen faculty, staff and students were also recognized and presented with awards.
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Dirk Hays named director of Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Weslaco
Professor Dirk Hays, Ph.D., has been named director of the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Weslaco starting on May 1. As center director, Hays will oversee the center’s mission to solve agriculture, life sciences and natural resources challenges facing farmers, ranchers and residents of the Rio Grande Valley.
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What is Weed Science?
Students under the supervision of Muthu Bagavathiannan, Ph.D., focus on weed ecology and management with a goal of understanding the evolutionary biology and dynamics of herbicides in weeds and help develop integrated weed management solutions to target weeds.
Bagavathiannan’s lab is training the next generation of weed scientists to find solutions to unwanted intruders in lawns, gardens and farms.
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Center pivot-based mobile drip irrigation provides efficiency to grow vegetables
Existing center pivot systems can be used to grow high-value crops like watermelons with modifications and save water over more traditional crops, even under hot, dry conditions like those experienced in 2022, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Research-led study.
Results of the second year of a field study on mobile drip irrigation use with watermelons show greater yields, higher biomass accumulation, reduced water use and greater water-use efficiency.
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Congratulations to four turfgrass students who placed 11th out of 63 students nationwide in the Turf Bowl competition sponsored by the Golf Course Superintendents Association during its annual meeting in February. The students involved included Cabot Ellis, Carson Reed, Ted Machacek and Caden Verrett.
Jake Mowrer, Ph.D., and Michael Kuitu both won awards from the Universities Council on Water Resources, UCOWR, for their education, outreach and resource management efforts. Mowrer received the Mid-Career Award for Extension/Outreach/Engagement while Kuitu received the Education and Public Service Award.
Congratulations to doctoral student Sarah Kezar who was selected to receive the Gerald O. Mott Meritorious Graduate Student Award in Crop Science. This award recognizes top-notch graduate students pursuing advanced degrees in crop science disciplines. Kezar is supervised by Muthu Bagavathiannan, Ph.D.
Congratulations to senior plant and environmental soil science major Ryan Schronk on being named an Outstanding Senior through the Tri-Societies National Recognition program. Schronk will be honored at the Tri-Societies’ annual meeting in November.
Registration is open for the annual Aggie Turf Club fundraiser on Friday, April 14. We will be holding a tour of the ScottsMiracle-Gro Lawn and Garden Research Facility starting at 9 a.m. We will then be going to lunch and golf at Big Shots in Bryan from noon until 3 p.m. The day ends with a catered tailgate at Blue Bell Park and watching Aggie Baseball take on Missouri starting at 4 p.m.
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- March 27-31: Ranch Management University, College Station
- March 30-31: Ecological Integration Symposium, College Station
- March 1-31: Scholarship interviews
- April 7: No Classes, Reading Day
- April 13: SCSC Student Awards Banquet, Annenberg Presidential Conference Center
- April 14: Aggie Turf Club Golf and Baseball Fundraising Event, College Station
- April 16-19: Academic Program Review Team Arrives
- April 17-19: Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture Event, Orlando, Florida
- April 21: Muster
- April 22-25: Council of Scientific Society Presidents meeting, Washington, D.C.
- April 23-26: McFadden Wheat Symposium, Grapevine
- May 9-11: Lone Star Golf Course Superintendents Association Open House,
ScottsMiracle-Gro Lawn and Garden Research Facility, College Station - May 11-13: Commencement
- May 15 by noon: Final grades due
- May 19: O.D. Butler Field Day
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About the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences
The Department of Soil and Crop Sciences is one of the largest such departments in the nation and is preeminent throughout the world. Through our undergraduate and graduate programs, we're training future leaders, poised to advance soil and crop sciences to solve global issues in human, economic and environmental health. Our world-famous faculty have a presence in every county in Texas. Working in partnership with Texas A&M AgriLife Research and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, their goal is to conduct soil and crop sciences research through trials and experimentation and then transfer that new knowledge to the public.
aglifesciences.tamu.edu | soilcrop.tamu.edu
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