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Cooperative Extension Service |
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Dr. Ivory W. Lyles |
Environmental responsibility and sustainability are important components of farming, whether it’s crop, livestock or poultry farming. To help Arkansas farmers enhance their role as environmental stewards, a delegation from the Division of Agriculture and Arkansas Farm Bureau recently traveled to Wisconsin to learn more about an Extension program known as Discovery Farms. Members of the delegation from the Division included Dr. Mark Cochran, Dr. Mike Daniels, Dr. Andrew Sharpley and me. The delegation from Arkansas Farm Bureau included several staff members, members of the board of directors and members of the environmental issues committee. We were on a fact-finding mission to learn more about Discovery Farms, a program taking a real-world approach to helping farmers overcome the environmental regulations and issues they face.
Discovery Farms seek to determine the impacts of production agriculture on the environment while learning the economic and environmental implications of adopting best management practices. Very few studies have been conducted to quantify the losses of sediment and nutrients from field-scale practices on real farms under real conditions. This information in Wisconsin has been critical in improving communications on environmental and economic issues between producers, consumers, researchers, policy makers and regulators to find approaches to environmental issues that make sense for all concerned.
Implementing a comparable program in Arkansas would certainly be a bold move for farming. It would go a step beyond our existing verification programs by adding the element of data collection on environmental impact and sustainability. Discovery Farms would help ensure the sustainability and profitability of farming through better management of Arkansas’ natural resources.
We’re enthusiastic about the idea of bringing a Discovery Farms-type program to the state, and we know Arkansas Farm Bureau would support the development of such a program. We’re in the initial development stages and welcome suggestions. Let us know what you would include and why in this type of program. We’re looking to assemble a team of people willing to commit to developing this type of environmental educational program. Anyone with ideas on how to develop and implement a Discovery Farms-type program is asked to contact Dr. Mike Daniels or Dr. Andrew Sharpley.
- Ivory W. Lyles
Honorary and Memorial Gifts
The following honorary and memorial gifts were recently received in support of programs and funds within the Cooperative Extension Service. This list covers gifts deposited March 1 – June 30, 2008.
• Cooperative Extension Service Operational Fund
In honor of Trina Jackson
Merritt and James Royal
• Extension Service Retiree Scholarship
In honor of Stan Chapman
Merritt Royal
In memory of Stephanie Rainey Bryant
LaVerne and William Feaster
Lott Rolfe III
In memory of D. Leroy Gray
Fann Woodward
In memory of Jerry Henderson
Jimmie and Jo Ann Bowling
In memory of Anna Keller
Fann Woodward
• Financial Services Operating Fund
In honor of Angela Stacy
Bernadette Hinkle
• LeadAR Scholarship Fund
In memory of Sally Rowland
Greene County Conservation District (Walter Lange)
Nathan V. McKinney II• Lynn R. Russell Endowed Award for Professional Excellence
In memory of Lynn Russell
Jimmie and Jo Ann Bowling
Stanley and Barbara Chapman
Donna Graham
Betty and Robert Oliver
William Russell, Jr.
Nancy Winterbauer Olofson• Mildred and Liz Childs CES Professional Development Fund
In honor of Elizabeth Childs
Merritt and James Royal
Honorary or memorial donations may be forwarded to the Development Office, Cooperative Extension Service, P. O. Box 391, Little Rock, AR 72203. To ensure that proper notification is sent, please also include in whose honor or memory the gift is made and the mailing address of the person to receive the notification.
– Merritt Royal
Garner Named Interim Dean, UAPB School of Agriculture, Fisheries and Human Sciences
Dr. James O. Garner, Jr. has been named interim dean/director of 1890 research and Extension programs for the School of Agriculture, Fisheries and Human Sciences at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
In this position, Dr. Garner will provide leadership for three academic departments as well as research and outreach programs in the School. For the past seven years, he served as chair of UAPB’s Department of Agriculture and associate research director.
Prior to coming to UAPB, Dr. Garner was professor of horticulture at Mississippi State University. He also served as a horticulture specialist at North Carolina A&T University and was an assistant county agent with the Mississippi Cooperative Extension Service.
Dr. Garner’s degrees include a doctorate in vegetable crops from Cornell University, a master’s in horticulture from Mississippi State and a bachelor’s in science education from Delta State University.
On the international level, he has served as a volunteer with the Partners of the Americas Farmer-to-Farmer Program in Guyana, South America. He was the principal investigator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture supported project in collaboration with Partners of the Americas, also in Guyana. He has served as a farm advisor in Liberia and has collaborated with researchers in Thailand and Columbia, South America.
Dr. Garner is a member of many professional societies including the American Society for Horticultural Sciences (ASHS) where he served as vegetable section chairman of the Southern Region; the National Sweet Potato Collaborator Group; the Mississippi Academy of Sciences; and Gamma Sigma Delta, honorary agriculture society, and Sigma XI, honorary agricultural society.
His honors include the L.M. Ware Distinguished Teacher Award given by the ASHS Southern Region and the Alpha Zeta Teacher Award from the College of Agriculture and Home Economics.
“I’m excited about having the opportunity to serve as interim dean/director of the School of Agriculture, Fisheries and Human Sciences,” Dr. Garner said. “We have strong departments that have developed outstanding teaching, research, outreach and Extension programs.”
Dr. Garner replaces Dr. Jacquelyn W. McCray, who retired from the university on June 30. He is married to Cynthia Garner and has six children – Cheryl, James, Bonita, Robert, Angelia and Lynnae.
– Debbie Archer
Research Project to Benefit Regional Economy
Two challenges to Arkansas regions are (1) supporting business and entrepreneurial development through public policies that address challenges and opportunities and (2) marketing the assets and opportunities in the region using a robust interactive regional web portal and related technologies.
Dr. Mark Peterson and Maureen Rose will conduct research in the NCARED region in north central Arkansas to identify public policies benefitting small businesses and test marketing strategies for a regional branding effort and web portal. This Breakthrough Solutions project, with core funding from the U of A Cooperative Extension Service Public Policy Center, will:
NCARED board could incorporate into their legislative agenda.
The project includes a fact-finding meeting in each of the eight counties. Data will be shared at the Public Policy Center Research Symposium and other events and will be incorporated into the regional legislative agenda.
– Maureen Rose
Program Technician Captures 2nd Place in Essay Contest
Jon Trappe was recently selected as one of the winners of the 2008 Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) Student Essay Contest.
Trappe is a program technician with the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service and a first-year graduate student at the University of Arkansas. He earned the second place grant of $1,500 for his paper: “Implications of Genetically Modified Turfgrasses.”
Open to GCSAA members who are undergraduate or graduate students pursuing degrees in turfgrass science, agronomy or any field related to golf course management, the GCSAA Essay Contest accepts entries with a focus on golf course management. The scholarship funding is provided by The Environmental Institute for Golf through the Robert Trent Jones Endowment. Judges from the GCSAA scholarship committee select winners to receive scholarships, and the first place entry may be published or excerpted in the association’s official publication, Golf Course Management. Visit GCSAA at www.gcsaa.org.
- Aaron Patton
Public Policy Center Receives Arkansas Energy Office Grant
The Public Policy Center received a $39,000 grant from the Arkansas Energy Office (AEO) for a renewable energy education and outreach project. The Center and the Communications Department will collaborate with the AEO to produce a quarterly newsletter and podcast. The goal is to provide lawmakers and stakeholders with information on the development of energy efficiency, renewable energy and energy policy in Arkansas. The newsletter – Energizing Arkansas – will explore new research and technology in the bioenergy sector, examine the economic, environmental and policy impacts of bioenergy and spotlight people and organizations leading the pack in renewable energy in the state.
– Lorrie Barr
Arkansas Water Primer Series Fact Sheets Now Available
The Public Policy Center has completed nine water quality- and water quantity-related fact sheets as part of its Arkansas Water Primer Series. The goal of the series is to provide resource materials on the science of water as well as the policy and regulatory history of this vital environmental and economic issue. The Center is currently developing a User’s Guide to help county agents best utilize the materials. There are nine fact sheets in the series. Two copies of each were sent to all county offices. Additional printed copies of these publications are now available to order, as needed, through the new online publications ordering system at http://pubs.uaex.edu/pubsWebuser.asp.
– Lorrie Barr
PPC-Funded Research Study Lead Article in UALR Law Review
The Spring 2008 edition of the UALR Law Review features a lead article by Ken Gould, a professor at the UALR Bowen School of Law. The study, “Drowning in Wetlands Jurisdictional Determination Process: Implementation of Rapanos v. United States,” was funded by a grant from the Public Policy Center and presented publicly in June 2007 at a research symposium hosted by the Center and the Cooperative Extension Service. An Executive Summary of Gould’s research project is at http://ppc.uaex.edu/.
– Lorrie Barr
SPOT Testing Has Begun
The
Alpha testing of our new Intranet portal, Spot, began on July 28. During a
two-week period, our intrepid Alpha testers* will perform a number of tasks to
help the Communications and Information Technology departments find problems and
make improvements before we move all our hard work to the production version.
Some of the fun assignments will include synchronizing passwords, joining a group and posting information to that group, reading announcements pushed directly to the Spot and accessing our test version of Banner. Our Luminis teams could not do without the eager volunteers who will help us make Spot better before we go live. Beta testing of the production Spot is set to begin later in August.
*Alpha testers include:
| Amy Hedges Andy Plunkett Ash Duttachowdhury Barbara Batiste Becky Bridges Beverly Fountain BeVerly Sims Bill Dodgen Bob Reynolds Brenda Vick Brent Milligan Bruce Hankins Buff McCree Chris Meux Chris Vammen Craig Andersen Dan Palmer Debra Schneider Denise Murdoch Dianne Knuteson Donna Rinke Ed Erwin Elizabeth Fortune Jackquelyn O’Donnell Jelyne Coldwell Jonathan Yarberry Judi Shipps |
Julie Thompson Kerry Rodtnick Kim Wolfe Linda Outlaw Lisa Ferris Mark Barnhard Mark Hubbell Mary Hightower Nathan Reinhart Nina Boston Norman Duquette Pat Doss Phyllis McQuany Renee Perkins Richard Poling Shadenna Rainbolt Sharon Lillard Sherry Funderburg Stan Carter Steve Hall Susan James Terrie Treadway Toy Siler Wanda Barker Wilma Lewis Yvonne McCool |
– Bob Reynolds and Nina Boston
Grants and Contracts
| Project Title | Award Amount | Principal Investigator | Granting Agency |
| State Contact and IPM Documents for Arkansas | $24,000.00 | Ples Spradley | North Carolina State University |
| Sustainable Forestry for Bioenergy and Bio-Based Products | $17,000.00 | Tamara Walkingstick | Southern Forest Research Partnership, Inc. |
| Cotton Community of Practice | $4,500.00 | Tom Barber | LSU Agricultural Center |
| Implementation of Low Impact Development Best Management Practices to Control Sediment from Urban Development in Fayetteville, AR | $8,600.00 | Tom Riley | Agriculture Experiment Station |
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Renewable Energy Education Project |
$29,404.00 |
Tom Riley | Arkansas Energy Office |
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Thermochemical Process Platforms to Utilize Crude Glycerin for Hydrogen Production and Electricity Generation |
$95,000.00 | Samy Sadaka | San Diego State University |
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Educational programming support in the area of Urban Horticulture; related community and leadership development and related 4-H youth development |
$25,000.00 | Bill Dodgen | City of Conway |
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FGD Gypsum in Agriculture Network |
$15,759.00 | Leo Espinoza | The Ohio State University Research Foundation |
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Arkansas Saves Campaign |
$1,200.00 | Laura Connerly | Consumer Federation of America |
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Evaluation of Sampling Procedures for Detecting Tarnished Plant Bug Populations in Cotton |
$21,700.00 | Gus Lorenz | Cotton Incorporated |
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Total |
$242,163.00 |
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