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A big thanks to everyone for another great semester in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences. The Aggie Spirit is alive and well and while many students are graduating, grants have been written, presentations made and workshops held—we have also overcome many challenges. From hail in Amarillo to tornado destruction at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Vernon, we have weathered these obstacles together.
We will be graduating the class of 2022 as well as advanced degree candidates. Congratulations to you all! You will continue to learn and grow as you add experience to the knowledge, leadership, character and life- long learning skills you have gained as a student. While graduation, ring ceremonies, scholarship banquets and awards presentations have honored you, this is my opportunity to say congratulations not only to you, but to those who guided and supported you through the process. We wish you every success as you take the next step in your careers.
I was able to participate in the Council of Scientific Society Presidents this past weekend in Washington, D.C., and participate in the interview process for Vice Chancellor and Dean during the rest of the week. We will be presenting the Borlaug Council for Agricultural Science and Technology Communications Award in Washington through an online format as this goes to press.
Markets for our producers have been fraught with supply chain issues for things like the semi-conductors for tractors and combines to nitrogen and phosphorous, as well as fuel. We are facing one of the most severe droughts since 2011 across West Texas, the current higher prices in commodity prices will not be as helpful as hoped with many farms facing limited production for 2022. Our large state continually provides new challenges and a wide range of conditions with which agricultural producers must contend. Our focus on soil health and conservation systems is leading to cleaner watersheds, greater soil carbon capture and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Our cultivar development programs are producing turfgrass with better adaptation to the Texas climate as well as cotton varieties, wheat varieties, peanut varieties, sorghum germplasm, corn germplasm, hibiscus and many more.
Dr. Manuel Chavarria has accepted the position as AgriLife Extension turfgrass specialist and will start Sept. 1. We are thrilled with this hire. The freeze on tenure track positions is finally off, and we will be requesting positions to fill our strategic plans in COALS as well as Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. Thanks to all for the great Ranch Management University that just wrapped up.
We look forward to many new students joining us over the summer and as we start the fall semester, but we still need more to meet the career opportunities provided through our turfgrass science and environmental soil and crop sciences programs. We wish all our students a happy and productive summer break. We look forward to the fall semester when they return refreshed and ready to take on new challenges. Stay safe!
Thanks & Gig 'em!
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| David Baltensberger, Ph.D.
Professor and Department Head
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Top News from Soil and Crop Sciences
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Congratulations Spring 2022 Graduates!
A total of 35 students will celebrate their achievements in the department during spring commencement at Reed Arena on May 12. The graduating class included 23 undergraduates, five master's and seven doctoral students.
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Texas A&M AgriLife-bred wheat varieties top Texas producer choices
Two top wheat varieties bred by Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences were recognized in this year’s U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service report on wheat crops planted in the state.
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Students recognized at annual departmental banquet
Several of our students were recognized for all their hard work and determination during the annual banquet recently held at the Thomas G. Hildebrand, DVM '56 Equine Complex. The department recognized all student achievements during the event and handed out scholarships and the outstanding student awards for both plant and environmental soil science and turfgrass majors.
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Input prices dictate pasture management decisions by livestock operators
Texas A&M AgriLife Research faculty members Monte Rouquette, Ph.D., and Gerald Smith, Ph.D. have made a few strategies available to help cow-calf and stocker operators manage their pastures during this time of rising fuel, feed and fertilizer prices.
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Texas A&M System recognizes AgriLife Research patents, innovators
Several faculty members in the department were recognized during the annual Patent and Innovation Awards luncheon held by the Texas A&M System’s Office of Technology Commercialization for patents they received. This included Ambika Chandra, Ph.D., and the turfgrass team’s DALZ1038 Zoysiagrass and Keerti Rathore, Ph.D. for his methods and compositions for modulating gossypol in cotton plants. The TAM115 and TAM205 common wheat varieties also received plant variety protection certificates.
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Growing interest in soil microbiology sparks update in textbook
To help with the growing interest in learning soil microbiology, professor Terry Gentry, Ph.D., recently co-authored a textbook with David Zuberer, Ph.D., and Jeffry Furman, Ph.D., titled “Principles and Applications of Soil Microbiology." The textbook chapters cover the fundamentals of soil environment and microbial processes, microbial groups and their interactions, and address critical nutrient cycles and important environmental and agricultural applications.
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New Tamrun peanut varieties announced
Two new peanut varieties were announced this month by the Texas A&M AgriLife Research peanut program led by peanut genetics professor Mark Burrow, Ph.D., in Lubbock. The Tamrun varieties are high-yielding, early maturing peanuts to allow for better yields that will work better with the West Texas climate.
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Congratulations to several of our students who did well during this year's Student Research Week in the oral and poster competitions. They are as follows:
- Jose Diaz received first place graduate poster in the agriculture category. Diaz is a master's student majoring in agronomy advised by Ben Wherley, Ph.D.
- Ross Mikolajczyk received first place undergraduate poster in the agriculture category. Ross is a senior plant and environmental sciences major advised by Nithya Rajan, Ph.D. He was mentored by grauate students Sk. Musfiq Us Salehin and Chiranjibi Poudya.
- Page Graves Seitz received second place graduate poster in the agriculture category. Paige is a program coordinator for Steve Hague, Ph.D.'s Cotton Improvement Lab.
- Ariana Lazo received second place undergraduate poster in the agriculture category. She is a senior plant and environmental sciences major.
- Karalee Corbeil won third place graduate poster in the agriculture category. Corbeil is a master’s student in water management and hydrological science advised by Dr. Terry Gentry.
Senior political science major Hollie Polk will be interning in the summer with the House Democratic Caucus in Washington, D.C. for two months. Polk recently interned in the Extension Water Program Internship - Water Resource Restoration and Protection program with Michael Kuitu.
We also want to congratulate assistant professor & Extension cotton specialist Murilo Maeda, Ph.D., and his wife, Andrea, who recently gave birth to Lia Meada in April.
The Gamma Sigma Delta Awards were announced during their Initiation and Awards Ceremony on April 26, and we had several awardees from our department. Congratulations to the following students, faculty and staff members who were recognized:
- Outstanding Junior: Will Hauser - Turfgrass Science
- Outstanding Senior: Grace Bodine - Plant and Envronmental Soil Science - Soil and Water Emphasis
- Outstanding Master's Student: Conlan Burbrink, advised by Chase Straw, Ph.D.
- Outstanding Master's Student: Nicole Shigley - Soil Science, advised by Peyton Smith, Ph.D.
- Outstanding Doctoral: Jackson Nielsen - Agronomy, advised by Ronnie Schnell, Ph.D.
- Outstanding Doctoral: Catherine Danmaigona Clement - Plant Breeding, advised by Steve Hague, Ph.D. and Jane Dever, Ph.D.
- Outstanding Doctoral: Aditi Pandey - Soil Science, advised by Terry Gentry, Ph.D.
- Christopher Barron, Grace Bodine and Will Hauser were also recognized as new undergraduate initiates into the organization.
- New graduate student initiates include: Aditi Pandey, Braden Tondre, Catherine Danmaigona Clement, Conlan Burbrink, Ellen Melson, Isaiah Robertson, Jackson Nielsen, Katherine Quinonez-Gonzalez, Nicole Shigley, Tyler Malone and Wayne Swink.
- LeAnn Hague was also recognized for being the 2022 departmental representative for the organization and Wayne Smith, Ph.D. was recognized as the departmental representative for the 2022 Initiation Ceremony.
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May 12: Graduation
May 30: Memorial Day
May 31: First day of first term and 10-week semester classes
June 21: Stiles Farm Field Day
June 28: Eagle Lake Rice Field Day – “Designing Texas Rice for the Future”
July 4: Independence Day
July 7: First day of second term summer classes
July 14: Beaumont Rice Field Day - “Designing Texas Rice for the Future”
August 12: Summer Graduation
Don't miss out on upcoming events across our department, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Texas A&M AgriLife.
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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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