Winter 2014

Vol. 5, No. 1

In This Issue

From the Director's Officer

Division of Agriculture recognizes outstanding work by faculty, staff

Ground-penetrating radar, water-monitoring stations set up by Big Creek research team

UA System ranks 48th in number of patents received in 2012; nine patents include inventors at Division of Agriculture

Division of Agriculture releases 3 breeding lines of upland cotton

Wiedenmann joins board of national science council

Graphic design, watercolor or pastels, Judy Howard's art work earns recognition

Division of Agriculture participates in International Spinach Conference in Guangzhou, China

McKenzie presents agricultural futures and options program to congressional staffers

Quick Links

Division of Agriculture

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station

Agricultural Communication Services

AGRI 110
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, Ark. 72701

479-575-5647

From the Director's Office

Richard Roeder
Associate Director, Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station

A few weeks ago there was a gathering at the Rohwer Research Station in southeast Arkansas to honor Roosevelt Dye, a farm worker at the station who was retiring after more than 37 years of service. The event drew not only many people from the station and surrounding community but also Division of Agriculture personnel from beyond Rohwer.

The event provided a chance to demonstrate our appreciation to Roosevelt for his decades of service, but it also served as an example of something bigger. It showed how the people of the Division of Agriculture work together to create a family-like atmosphere across the state.

Between the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division is spread around the state with 1,500 people on five university campuses, five research and extension centers and eight research stations, plus the Extension offices in all 75 counties. It's safe to say that many of our people haven't met each other.

Anytime a Division employee traveling on the road visits one of our offices or farms, it doesn't matter if he or she doesn't know anyone there. All that's necessary is to tell someone that you're a fellow Division employee and you're immediately accepted as one of the group. It's that simple because that's the kind of family-style ethic we continually promote among all Division employees from their first days on the job. It's catching; you could ask Roosevelt Dye.

Roosevelt Dye (second from left) was honored at a retirement reception in January marking more than 37 years of service at the Rohwer Research Station. Joining him were (from left) Kelly Bryant, director of the Southeast Research and Extension Center; Larry Earnest, director of the Rohwer Research Station, and Rick Roeder, associate director of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station.

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Division of Agriculture recognizes outstanding work by faculty, staff

Kristofor Brye (center), professor of crop, soil, and environmental sciences, receives the John W. White Outstanding Teaching Award from Mark Cochran (left), UA System vice president for agriculture, and Mike Vayda, dean of the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences. Photos of all the awards presentations are at http://flic.kr/s/aHsjQBq6yN.

Research in molecular computation and engineering geospatial solutions for agriculture are among the outstanding faculty and staff projects honored Jan. 10 by the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture in partnership with the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences.

"The work done by our faculty and staff really does make a difference, not only in equipping students with the tools for successful careers, but also in the discoveries being made on our campuses that will ripple into every aspect of our lives from our farms and forests to the grocery stores to our doctor's office," said Vice President for Agriculture Mark Cochran.

The award recipients represent some 1,500 faculty and staff members on five university campuses, at research and extension centers and stations throughout Arkansas and in all 75 counties.

(See full article at http://arkansasagnews.uark.edu/7978.htm.)

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Ground-penetrating radar, water-monitoring stations set up by Big Creek research team

Members of the Big Creek Research and Extension Team work with a soil probe to extract a soil core for nutrient and physical analysis on a permitted manure application field. (More photos available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/uacescomm/sets/72157640633270194/.)

Researchers conducting an in-depth examination of a controversial hog farm in the Buffalo River watershed have been employing ground-penetrating radar, grid soil-sampling and water-monitoring devices as they lay groundwork for the multi-phase, long-term study, according to a report submitted to the governors' office.

The Big Creek Research and Extension Team, comprised of faculty and staff from the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, is conducting the research using funds from the governor's office. The funding was approved by a legislative subcommittee last September. Site work on the study began in October.

The first quarterly report was delivered Jan. 31 to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality and the Arkansas governor's office. The report laid out team members and their plan of action for the study.

"The study will provide scientifically rigorous information on any potential impacts of the farm on Big Creek, including levels of bacteria, and nutrients such as phosphorous and nitrogen," said Dr. Andrew Sharpley, team leader and professor at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

(See full article at http://arkansasagnews.uark.edu/8016.htm.)

(Division to present panel discussion by research and extension team members at 3 p.m. March 4 at AFLS Building Hembree Auditorium. See details at http://arkansasagnews.uark.edu/8024.htm.)
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UA System ranks 48th in number of patents received in 2012; nine patents include inventors at Division of Agriculture

The University of Arkansas System tied for 48th among the world's top 100 universities for the number of U.S. utility patents received in 2012.
UA System universities received 34 patents for inventions by researchers, according to the National Academy of Inventors and the Intellectual Property Owners Association, which compiled the list from data obtained from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The UA System was tied in the top 100 rankings with American universities Arizona State University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Texas A&M University.

"I'm very proud of the faculty scientists across our institutions for conducting innovative research across a number of fields," said Dr. Donald R. Bobbitt, president of the UA System. "Producing research to improve the human condition is a key component of the mission of our university, and this ranking shows that our scientists are taking that mission to heart."

Among the UA System's patents, 20 included inventors at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, nine included inventors at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, four included inventors at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and four included inventors at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Two of the 34 patents included inventors from more than one UA System institution.

"Innovation based on university technology has proven to be a key factor in worldwide industrial and economic development," said Paul R. Sanberg, president of the National Academy of Inventors, in a press release announcing the rankings. "In the 21st century, the support, encouragement and development of technology and innovation are fundamental to the success of a university."

(See full article at http://arkansasagnews.uark.edu/8018.htm. Division of Agriculture patents can be searched in a library database explained at http://newswire.uark.edu/articles/23459/libraries-launch-patents-database.)

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Division of Agriculture releases 3 breeding lines of upland cotton

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture has released three cotton germplasm lines for use by other public and private cotton breeding programs.

Fred Bourland, cotton breeder and director of the division's Northeast Research and Extension Center at Keiser, said germplasm refers to the genetic makeup of a plant.

"Germplasm lines are the building blocks of varieties," he said. "If we can share these building blocks, we can build improved varieties."

The germplasm lines - Arkot 0305, Arkot 0306 and Arkot 0316 - have high yields and improved fiber quality, Bourland said.

Bourland said improvements in yield in these lines have been accompanied by increased fiber density - the number of fibers per unit area of seed coat. "Improved yield associated with higher fiber density should provide better crop consistency in the face of climate variability," he said.

The three breeding lines are considered short-season, early maturing genotypes, Bourland said. They are resistant to common cotton diseases, including bacterial blight, fusarium wilt and Verticillium wilt.
They also show at least moderate resistance to tarnished plant bug, Bourland said.

(See full article at http://arkansasagnews.uark.edu/7961.htm.)

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Wiedenmann joins board of national science council

Rob Wiedenmann

Rob Wiedenmann, entomology department head for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, has been elected to a two-year term as a member of the Executive Board of the Council of Scientific Society Presidents.

Wiedenmann completed a term as president of the Entomological Society of America last November. He has been the head of the department of entomology since 2005, when he moved from a similar position at the Illinois Natural History Survey and University of Illinois.

The Council of Scientific Society Presidents is an organization of presidents, presidents-elect, and recent past-presidents of about 60 scientific federations and societies whose combined membership numbers more than 1.5 million scientists and science educators.

For more than 40 years, the Council has served as a strong national voice in developing and promoting wise science policy in support of science and science education. Widely regarded as the premier national science leadership development center, it serves as a forum for open, substantive exchanges on emerging scientific issues.

The Council is recognized and sought after to provide counsel and analysis to The Office of Science and Technology Policy, Congress and a variety of federal agencies, in addition to policy development groups and the media.

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Graphic design, watercolor or pastels, Judy Howard's art work earns recognition

"Tracks and Shadows," pastel by Judy Howard.

Judy Howard has been an artist for most of her life, working successfully in a variety of mediums, traditional and modern. She is an award-winning graphic designer for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture in the Agricultural Communication Services unit in Fayetteville. Her watercolors have been exhibited often, and one in particular is something of an unofficial trademark.

She will exhibit about 20 pastel paintings in a solo show March 25-April 29 at the Bentonville Convention and Visitors Center; and now one of her pastel paintings, "Tracks and Shadows," is getting international attention as part of the International Association of Pastel Societies 23rd Juried Exhibition web show.

This is her first time as part of an international exhibit.

"They had thousands of entries, so I am very honored to have a painting accepted and displayed with so many wonderful paintings by such excellent artists," Howard said. "These are members of pastel societies from across the country and around the world - including Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Some of these artists teach workshops, have published books and instructional DVDs and have won numerous awards in big art shows. Many of their paintings sell for thousands of dollars."

(See full article at http://newswire.uark.edu/articles/23460/graphic-design-watercolor-or-pastels-judy-howard-s-art-work-earns-recognition.)

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Division of Agriculture participates in International Spinach Conference in Guangzhou, China

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture delegation to the International Spinach Conference included, from left, Chunda Feng, plant pathology program associate; Kim Keeney; Yannis Tzanetakis, associate professor of plant pathology; Jim Correll, professor of plant pathology; Cindy Moreley; graduate student Jon Smith; Burt Bluhm, assistant professor of plant pathology; and graduate student John Ridenour.

University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture faculty and staff participated in the International Spinach Conference in Guangzhou, China, in December.

The meeting was held in conjunction with the Guangdong Seed Expo, typically attended by more than 20,000 participants annually, said Jim Correll, Division of Agriculture plant pathologist. He said scientists from the U.S., Canada, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Australia, Japan and China attended the conference.

Among this group, the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture is recognized as the leading research institution on spinach worldwide, Correll said.

The annual spinach meeting included two days of scientific and production presentations by 30 scientists from around the world who do spinach research, Correll said. The event also included a field day that featured research field plots for more than 5,000 vegetable crops and a vegetable industry-sponsored banquet.

(See full article at http://arkansasagnews.uark.edu/8019.htm.)

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McKenzie presents agricultural futures and options program to congressional staffers

Meeting in Washington were (from left) Professor Andrew McKenzie, Sen. Mark Pryor and Caron Gala, executive director of the Council on Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics.

Andrew McKenzie, professor of agricultural economics and agribusiness in the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, presented a hands-on workshop on Jan. 28 in Washington covering the fundamentals of agricultural futures and options for congressional staff of all members of the House Committee on Agriculture.

McKenzie joined Wade Brorsen, Regents Professor and A.J. and Susan Jacques Chair in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Oklahoma State University, in delivering the presentations.

The Council on Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics (C-FARE - http://www.cfare.org), which organized the workshop, selected McKenzie and Brorsen as renowned experts in the field of agricultural futures markets.

McKenzie also discussed the topic of commodity futures markets with Sen. Mark Pryor and his legislative assistant, Stephen Lehrman, and with Chris Huffaker, legislative director for Rep. Steve Womack.

C-FARE is a non-profit organization based in Washington. C-FARE promotes the work of applied economists and serves as a catalyst for incorporating economic thinking into the analysis of food, agricultural and resource decisions. It serves as a conduit between the academic research and extension community and Washington policymakers and agency personnel, matching expertise to public needs.

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