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Arkansans throughout the state turned out Saturday, Oct. 20, to celebrate University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Day at their nearest Division facility. The event, held at several research and extension centers and research stations, hosted local communities to recognize the past 150 years of agricultural education, research and extension activity made possible by the Morrill Act of 1862.

A spinning wheel from an earlier era was a popular attraction during the Division of Agriculture Day events at the Vegetable Research Station in Kibler on Oct. 20.

           
The Oct. 20 activities were held at the Arkansas Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Fayetteville, the Livestock and Forestry Research Station in Batesville, the Northeast Research and Extension Center (as part of the Fall Festival in downtown Blytheville), the Rice Research and Extension Center in Stuttgart, the Fruit Research Station in Clarksville, the Lon Mann Cotton Research Station in Marianna, the Pine Tree Research Station in Colt, the Rohwer Research Station and the Vegetable Research Station in Kibler. Activities were held Oct. 12 at the Arkansas Forest Resources Center in Monticello and Oct. 13 at the Southeast Research and Extension Center in Monticello. The Southwest Research and Extension Center in Hope held its event on Oct. 27.

(See more photos at  http://www.uark.edu/admin/aes/divofagday2012/divagday2012.html)  

(See video about the Division of Agriculture's work in the state at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uHL8TA3OAw&feature=youtu.be)   

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and several state officials hosted UA System President Donald Bobbitt Oct. 25 to introduce him to the state's agricultural leadership during a reception at the Little Rock Hilton. The reception offered an opportunity for leaders to meet and greet Dr. Bobbitt and express their appreciation for his support of the Division of Agriculture.

About 40 people attended the event that included Division of Agriculture officials led by Dr. Mark Cochran, UA System Vice President for Agriculture. Guests included representatives of the Agricultural Council of Arkansas, Ag Heritage Farm Credit Services, Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp., Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation, Arkansas Rice Federation, the Council for Agricultural, Research, Extension and Training; the corn and grain sorghum industry, Noble Strategies, the Poultry Federation and Riceland Foods. State officials in attendance were representatives from Gov. Mike Beebe's office, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel's office, the Arkansas Department of Agriculture and the Arkansas State Fair.

Acknowledging the Beaver Watershed Alliance's donation to the Center for Agricultural and Rural Sustainability are, from left, Dr. Lalit Verma, Department Head, Biological and Agricultural Engineering; Dr. Marty Matlock, Professor and Area Director, Center for Agricultural and Rural Sustainability; Jason Kindall, Executive Director, Beaver Watershed Alliance; Dr. Jennie Popp, Professor and Area Director, Center for Agricultural and Rural Sustainability; Dr. Mark Cochran, UA System Vice President for Agriculture, and Dr. Steve Halbrook, Department Head, Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness.

The Beaver Watershed Alliance has contributed $7,500 to the Center for Agricultural and Rural Sustainability (CARS), a research and outreach center in the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, in recognition of the contributions that the students and faculty in the Center have made to improve the understanding and management of the Beaver Watershed.

Jason Kindall, Executive Director of the Beaver Watershed Alliance, said the Board of Directors approved this donation to show appreciation and support of the research, education, and outreach activities provided by the UA System Division of Agriculture, and to recognize the collaboration with the Center for Agricultural and Rural Sustainability.

"The partnership between these two organizations provides outstanding benefits to the citizens of Northwest Arkansas" said Kindall. "Students and faculty have implemented projects throughout the watershed exploring stream bank restoration, low impact development, wetland design, stream water quality, lake nutrient dynamics, and many other projects that support our mission to protect water quality in Beaver Lake."

"The collaboration between the Beaver Watershed Alliance and CARS provides faculty and students the opportunity to better understand and solve real problems," said Marty Matlock, CARS area director. "Through the Beaver Watershed Alliance we work with the Beaver Water District, our local communities, and other stakeholders to better understand the challenges of protecting water quality throughout the Beaver Lake system. This collaboration provides a critical opportunity for our students and faculty to develop experience solving complex problems that really matter."

Marty Matlock

Marty Matlock, professor of biological and agricultural engineering, has been named as the first executive director of the campus-wide office for sustainability at the University of Arkansas. Provost Sharon Gaber and Associate Vice Chancellor for Facilities Mike Johnson appointed Matlock to demonstrate the increased emphasis on sustainability across all campus activities.

           
"Marty brings a broad and integrated perspective to the challenges of sustainability" said Gaber. "He will engage students, staff, faculty, and the UA community around the world in implementing a common vision for sustainability programs at the University of Arkansas. The office for sustainability will play a central role in providing innovative solutions and perspectives to some of the most complex challenges we face on campus, in our communities, and across Arkansas."

(See full article at http://newswire.uark.edu/article.aspx?id=19034 )  

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The National Agricultural Law Center (NALC), a unit of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, has established new national partnerships that will serve to further the Center's mission as the nation's leading source of agricultural and food law research and information.  Recent partnerships have been formed with the National Association for State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), National MarketMaker at the University of Illinois and the National Sea Grant Law Center at the University of Mississippi School of Law.

The NALC is the nation's leading source of agricultural and food law research and information. The Center serves the nation's agricultural community of producers, Cooperative Extension Service personnel, state and federal policymakers, attorneys, consumers, and others. While operating on a national scale, the Center conducts objective and scholarly agricultural and food law research and information. It is also a formal partner of the USDA National Agricultural Library, helping fulfill NALC's mission of "advancing access to global information for agriculture."
 
Through the new collaborative relationship, NASDA and NALC will jointly host an agricultural and food law presentation series specifically for state departments of agriculture over the coming year. The first presentation featured NALC staff attorney Elizabeth Rumley, who discussed "Enforcing Animal Welfare Standards:  Whose Job is it Anyway?" The presentation covered the designation of authority to enforce animal welfare laws throughout the United States and conclude with an overview of the liability concerns that may present themselves as a result of the delegation.
 
MarketMaker at the University of Illinois is a national partnership of land grant institutions and state departments of agriculture dedicated to the development of a comprehensive interactive database of food industry marketing and business data. This partnership is an outgrowth of collaboration under a multiyear USDA Agricultural Food and Research Initiative award among NALC, the University of Illinois Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics and MarketMaker titled "Assessing Legal Variables and Managing Risk in Direct Farm Marketing."
 
The National Sea Grant Law Center provides research, education, and outreach to the National Sea Grant College Program, policymakers, practitioners, laypersons, and others on coastal, ocean, and Great Lakes law and policy. NALC and NSGLC will coordinate on Extension activities, jointly host continuing legal education programs and webinars and pursue extramural funding.  

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Jim Correll, professor of plant pathology, is the lead investigator for the grant. Researchers at the University of California at Davis, the University of Tennessee and Washington State University will also collaborate in the project. The grant is one of USDA"s Specialty Crop Research Initiative grants.

The research aims to develop disease-resistant hybrid seeds, develop methods to detect whether seeds have been contaminated by disease and help growers determine the best varieties for their climates.

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Burt Bluhm

Burt Bluhm, University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture assistant professor of plant pathology, will partner with a team of researchers in a U.S. Department of Energy-supported project to perform transcriptome (RNA) sequencing of bioenergy crop plants susceptible to disease from particular fungi.

           
The research team will work under the Energy Department's Community Sequencing Program. The project will explore how fungi in the class Dothideomycetes cause disease in bioenergy crops. The genomes of many bioenergy crops and their fungal pathogens have been sequenced, providing scientists the resources to study the genetic basis of interactions between plants and fungi.

Bluhm said knowledge gained from the project would lead to an increase in biofuel crop production and enable new technologies for conversion of biomass materials to energy through metabolic engineering.

"In addition to improving disease resistance, we hope to modify the enzymes and pathways that are used so effectively by pathogens to break down plant tissues in a controlled, commercial setting to convert cellulosic biomass into easily fermentable sugars," Bluhm said.

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Terry Siebenmorgen (left) receives the Friend of the Farmer award from Danny Kennedy, Riceland Foods chief executive officer.

Terry Siebenmorgen, University Professor of Food Science and director of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Rice Processing Program, is the recipient of the Riceland Foods 2012 Friend of the Farmer award. The presentation was made at the cooperative's 92nd annual meeting in Stuttgart on Nov. 15.

 Siebenmorgen has worked in the field of rice research throughout his almost 30-year-career, with an emphasis on issues related to how the growing environment, drying and storage, as well as processing and transporting affect rice quality.

Danny Kennedy, Riceland chief executive officer, said Siebenmorgen's work, and that of his associates, has expanded the understanding of rice which has benefitted everyone in the rice industry, including farmers, millers, marketers, and food manufacturers who use rice in the production of their products.

The Friend of the Farmer award provides Riceland Foods an opportunity to recognize individuals, companies and public institutions for their contributions to the Arkansas rice industry. It has been presented to a governor, U.S. senators and congressmen, as well as to CEOs of national restaurant chains and international food manufacturers.

Osborn was selected in recognition of his exceptional achievements in teaching and for his leadership in developing new curricula in the rapidly developing area of biological engineering and in reform of engineering education to more fully integrate design and discovery-based learning. Osborn has helped to create new biological engineering programs at Louisiana State University, Texas A&M University and the UA, where he has served on the faculty since 2001. He is the first recipient from the UA in the 48-year history of this award.

(See full article at http://arkansasagnews.uark.edu/7270.htm)

Michael T. Kidd

Michael T. Kidd, director of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Center of Excellence for Poultry Science and head of the Poultry Science Department, has been selected as the 2012-13 president of the Poultry Science Association (PSA). His term began at the 2012 PSA annual meeting held July 9-12 in Athens, Ga.

PSA is a professional organization consisting of approximately 1,300 educators, scientists, extension specialists, administrators and producers who are committed to advancing the poultry industry.

Kidd has served as the director, department head and as a professor at the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science since 2010. Prior to that he was the department head for the department of poultry science at Mississippi State University.

The Poultry Science Department and the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science include a complex of teaching, research and extension facilities at the Arkansas Agricultural Research and Extension Center and the John W. Tyson Poultry Science Building on campus. The department provides the curriculum for B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degree programs.

Fred Bourland

Fred Bourland, director of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Northeast Research and Extension Center, has been named a Fellow in the American Society of Agronomy. Bourland, a professor and agronomist in the Department of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences, was recognized at the ASA annual meeting in October in Cincinnati.

Members of the Society nominate worthy colleagues based on their professional achievements and meritorious service. Only 0.3 percent of the Society's active and emeritus members may be elected Fellow.

Bourland received B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Arkansas and a Ph.D. degree from Texas A&M University.

Curt Rom

The American Society for Horticultural Science recognized Curt R. Rom, a professor of horticulture at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas, as a Fellow at its annual science meeting in Miami.

 The recognition as Fellow is the highest recognition from the ASHS and is given to an elite group of horticulturists who have a distinguished career in research, education, and service to horticulture science.

Rom is past vice president, treasurer and board member of the ASHS and is the president-elect of the ASHS Southern Region. He served as associate editor for the Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science and on the editorial board of the American Pomological Society. He is past secretary and president of the American Pomological Society.

(See full article at http://arkansasagnews.uark.edu/7316.htm)

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Andrew Sharpley

Andrew Sharpley, a University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture professor in the Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences, received the $10,000 Distinguished Agriscience Scientist Award from the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation and the American Farm Bureau Federation at the third annual Agriscience Awards ceremony July 10 in Washington, D.C.

Foundation Chair Maria Lombardo said Sharpley received the award for his environmental research, including his work as a Division of Agriculture scientist on the effects of agricultural management on water quality. He also teaches in the university's Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences.

Sharpley is co-director of the Division of Agriculture's Environmental Task Force. He investigates the fate of phosphorus in soil-plant-water systems in relation to soil productivity and the effects of agricultural management on water quality. He helped develop decision-making tools to identify sensitive areas of the landscape and to target management alternatives and remedial measures that have reduced the risk of nutrient loss from farms.

(See the full article at http://arkansasagnews.uark.edu/7201.htm)

Robert Wiedenmann

Robert N. Wiedenmann, professor and head of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Department of Entomology, was named the recipient of the 2012 John V. Osmun Alumni Professional Achievement Award in Entomology, from Purdue University.

Wiedenmann received his Ph.D. in 1990 and was presented the award Oct. 12 at Purdue, where he gave a seminar to the Department of Entomology, "The Phylogeny and Ontogeny of Ideas." This year's award ceremony coincided with the celebration of the centennial of Purdue's Entomology Department.