Land-grant faculty, staff earn honors at annual Ag Awards

By Mary Hightower
U of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Outstanding land-grant faculty and staff were honored Friday during the annual Agriculture Awards, held at the Don Tyson Center for Agricultural Sciences.

AG AWARDS — Amanda McWhirt, associate professor and extension specialist with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture,  spoke on behalf of the Expanding the Fresh-Market Blackberry Industry Team, which won the John W. White Outstanding Team Award. (U of A System Division of Ag photo.)

The event recognizes the achievements of those from the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, representing the extension, research and teaching missions of the nation’s land-grant system in Arkansas.

“These awards do more than recognize the excellence in our ranks. Since our winners are nominated by their colleagues, these awards are an acknowledgement of the esteem in which their peers hold them,” said Deacue Fields, vice president-agriculture for the University of Arkansas System. “Nothing could be more gratifying for our professionals and our organization.” 

The following were honored with John W. White Awards, which commemorate the first head of the Division of Agriculture.

• John W. White Outstanding Research Award – Kristen Gibson, professor of food safety and microbiology, who joined the Division of Agriculture in 2010 as a postdoctoral research associate in the Center for Food Safety.

• John W. White Outstanding Teaching Award – Nathan Kemper, an associate professor of community and rural economic development and the director of undergraduate and online programs in the department of agricultural economics and agribusiness.

• John W. White Outstanding Extension State Faculty Award – Laura Hendrix, professor, department of family and consumer sciences.

• John W. White Outstanding County Extension Educator Award – Brad McGinley, Grant County extension staff chair.

• John W. White Outstanding Team Award – Expanding the Fresh-Market Blackberry Industry Team: Aaron Cato, extension specialist-horticulture integrated pest management; Amanda McWhirt, extension specialist-horticulture crops, Jackie Lee, director of the Fruit Research Station, and Margaret Worthington, fruit breeder, all of the department of horticulture; and Renee Threlfall, associate professor, department of food science.

The following were honored with Outstanding Support Personnel Awards.

Program Area Awards

• Daniel McCarty – Rice breeding program associate based at the Rice Research and Extension Center.

• Julian Abram – Program technician in the biological and agricultural engineering department.

 Support Function Awards

• Dwain Ober – Farm foreman, Fruit Research Station.

• Karen DiCicco – Assistant director of information technology, Cooperative Extension Service.

Support Staff Awards 

• Genean Butler – Associate for administration for agriculture and natural resources.

• Tonya Foster – Administrative manager for the department of agricultural economics and agribusiness

EXTENSION — John Anderson, director of the Cooperative Extension Service and senior associate vice president-extension for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, speaks at the 2024 Agriculture Awards. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Mary Hightower)

John Anderson, head of the Cooperative Extension Service, said that “our Agriculture Awards give us an annual reminder of the exceptional work being done in the Division of Agriculture and in Bumpers College across all or our land-grant mission areas. 

“This year’s awardees are all highly deserving of recognition for the quality and the impact of their work. Our Extension winners – both individually and in their contribution to interdisciplinary teams – have clearly earned the respect of their colleagues,” he said. “Their work in linking the UA System directly to our stakeholders with practical, relevant, and impactful programming deserves to be recognized and celebrated. These awards give us an opportunity to do just that.”

“The faculty and staff we recognize this year are a testament to the level of achievement we aim for as an institution. They reflect our values and our mission to innovate and improve people’s lives,” said Jean-François Meullenet, director of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station. “I am grateful for how these awardees set the standard for excellence with their impactful work.”

The following were honored with Bumpers College Awards:

• Outstanding Honors Thesis Mentor Award – Gisela Erf, an immunologist and holder of the Tyson Endowed Professorship in Avian Immunology in the department of poultry science and with the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science.

• Alumni Society Outstanding Advising – Stephanie Hubert, a senior instructor of apparel merchandising and product development in Bumpers College’s School of Human Environmental Sciences.

• Jack G. Justus Teaching – Christopher Estepp, associate professor in the department of agricultural education, communications and technology.

• Dean’s Award of Excellence for Professional Staff – Kristin Seals, associate director of facilities and special events with the Bumpers College dean’s office.

• Spitze Land Grant University Faculty Award for Excellence – Walter Bottje, professor in the department of poultry science.

BUMPERS COLLEGE — Jeff Edwards, dean of the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, speaks at the 2024 Agriculture Awards. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Mary Hightower)

Jeff Edwards, dean of Bumpers College, offered his “congratulations to everyone who is receiving an award. It gives me great pleasure to acknowledge members of the college faculty and staff who are being honored.

“We have the best faculty and staff on campus and these awards are a small way of recognizing all that they do,” Edwards said. “Their dedication to serving students, and others, stands out and I’m proud to have them representing Bumpers College as recipients of their respective awards.”

To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk. 

Celebrating Arkansas Blackberry Month with research, education

By Sarah Cato
U of A System Division of Agriculture

CLARKSVILLE, Ark. — Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has proclaimed June as Arkansas Blackberry Month and the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture celebrated by hosting a field day to showcase its research and education efforts.

A MONTH OF BERRIES — Margaret Worthington, associate professor of horticulture for the U of A System Division of Agriculture, addresses attendees during the blackberry field day in Clarksville earlier in June. (Division of Agriculture photo.)

The 2023 Blackberry Field Day, hosted in partnership with the Arkansas Blackberry Growers Association at the Fruit Research Station, welcomed almost 90 blackberry growers from Arkansas, Missouri, Texas and Oklahoma. The research station is a part of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the Division of Agriculture.

The Division of Agriculture is world-renowned for its blackberry varieties, which are grown on every continent except Antarctica. In 2017, blackberry production in the U.S. was valued at $31.1 million, according to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center.

The field day kicked off with indoor presentations on blackberry aromas and efforts to boost public interest in blackberries.

Promotion research

“We’ve partnered with the Arkansas Blackberry Growers Association to increase blackberry promotion in Arkansas,” said Lizzy Herrera, extension horticulture program associate for the Division of Agriculture. “We’ve created several promotional materials in an attempt to market blackberries as the healthy, fresh and local treat we know they are.”

With funding from the Specialty Crop Block Grant, administered by the Arkansas Department of Agriculture, Herrera said a survey was distributed last year to assess marketing habits, pricing, and what type of promotional materials growers would like to see. These answers were used to create recipe cards, stickers, road signs, and other promotional materials. Sales dollars for participating farms will be tracked over two years.

Increasing herbicide options

Matt Bertucci, assistant professor of horticulture for the Division of Agriculture, discussed his research on utilizing 2,4-D choline, a post-emergent broadleaf herbicide, in blackberry production. The chemical is not currently labeled for use in blackberries in Arkansas.

Pre-emergent herbicides, which target germinating seeds, are typically used to control broadleaf weed species. But pre-emergent herbicides can fail over time and are not effective on perennial broadleaf weed species.

“You may be wondering why we’d spray a broadleaf herbicide on a broadleaf crop,” Bertucci said. “Our goal is to apply enough chemical to kill the weed, but not enough to hurt our plants.”

Bertucci’s research aims to pin down that sweet spot of how much herbicide will effectively control broadleaf weed populations without lowering yield or fruit quality, and, hopefully, get the product labeled for use in Arkansas blackberries to give growers more options to control problematic broadleaf weed species. This research is funded by the IR-4 Project, an organization with a focus on developing data required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the registration of pest management tools for specialty crops.

Rotating Cross Arm Trellis

Amanda McWhirt, horticulture production specialist for the Division of Agriculture showed attendees the rotating cross arm trellis, or RCA, used in her current research trial looking at labor data, fruit quality, and canopy conditions compared to the traditional T-trellis. However, one major benefit to the RCA comes with the recent surge in early season freezes Arkansas fruit growers have suffered the past few years.

“We’ve had many growers implement the RCA on their operation with great success,” McWhirt said. “It creates a really attractive wall of blackberries that is great for U-Pick operations, and several have said it’s saved them from the freezes we’ve been dealing with the past several years.”

The RCA trellis allows growers to lay the plants down, closer to the ground. This, paired with a cover, keeps the buds warmer during early-season cold snaps, oftentimes saving them from significant cold damage. However, the RCA helps battle summer struggles as well.

With the RCA, plants produce fruit on one side of the trellis. During the summer, producers can rotate the trellis to keep the fruit in the shade and reduce sun exposure, which McWhirt said is a common cause of red drupe, white drupe, and sunscald. This practice also reduces temperature and lowers humidity within the canopy, making a less-favorable environment for spotted wing drosophila, a common pest of blackberries. But the environmental characteristics aren’t the only advantage when it comes to controlling spotted wing drosophila on an RCA.

“We have also seen increased coverage in our insecticide sprays targeting spotted wing on the RCA. It gives us a nice wall of berries and your sprayer will hit them dead on every time,” said Aaron Cato, horticulture IPM specialist for the Division of Agriculture. “Because of this, we think it is possible that the RCA requires less spray volume compared to our traditional T-trellis. It may not seem like much, but if you’re covering a ton of acres, reducing 10 to 20 gallons of water can save a lot of time.”

Cato said other cultural control options are a must as well. He suggests harvesting often, keeping fields clear of discarded or culled berries and moving harvested fruit into cold storage as soon as possible.

The field day had an extended tour that touched on the blackberry breeding program, summer tipping reminders, blackberry fertility, and more. Learn more about blackberry production in Arkansas at uaex.uada.edu.

To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk.