Greer remembered for mentorship, love of science, and good insect memes

By Mary Hightower
U of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture

HOPE, Ark. — Amanda Greer is being remembered for her love of family, science and a good insect meme. By Mary Hightower. 780 words. With portrait of Greer, file photo

Greer, born in Warren, passed away Feb. 19 following a battle with cancer.

Agriculture was her life. She farmed and worked as a cotton scout and crop consultant in the 1990s. In 2006, she joined the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture as a Chicot County extension agent, moving later to Lafayette County, first as an agent, then as staff chair. Between her time in Chicot and Lafayette counties, Greer also worked as a program technician at the former Southeast Research and Extension Center in Monticello.

Amanda Greer is being remembered as a teacher at heart who loved science and a good insect meme. (U of Arkansas file photo)

In 2018, she started as lab manager for the Arkansas Nematode Diagnostic Lab, based at the Southwest Research and Extension Center in Hope.

Kim Rowe, Hempstead County extension agent, knew Greer for two decades and said she looked to Greer for her expertise in weed identification, plant diseases, and insect and nematode problems.

“She was always patient with me busting up in her lab,” Rowe said. “She would confidently solve any mystery, no matter how much time it took.

“While I will certainly miss her mentorship and assistance professionally, mostly I will miss my friend who loved quality insect memes, photos of lichens, and trying exotic foods,” Rowe said.

Daniel Rivera, director of the Southwest Research and Extension Center, said Greer was a private person, but could be gregarious once she got to know someone.

“She was warm, witty, funny, generous with her time, and thoroughly enjoyed working in the nematode lab,” Rivera said. “She always took time to educate me about nematodes, and she was that way with anyone who came to visit the lab. From kids to state senators, all were taught equally! Her eyes would light up when they would find out something new or neat. She just loved the science.

“She felt a responsibility to ag producers, the Division of Agriculture, and the lab, and took great pride in the work the lab put out,” Rivera added. “Amanda was the living embodiment of our core values.” 

Rivera said Greer would also light up when she spoke of her daughter, and “Amanda loved talking about Dakota's accomplishments.”

Greer was also a diehard Razorback fan who loved to go to the games with her husband, William, and daughter Dakota.

“From my friend Amanda, we can take one final lesson: to be strong, steadfast in your tasks, and ensure that you spend time and enjoy the ones you love as much as you can,” Rivera said.

Terry Kirkpatrick, who oversaw the nematode lab before retiring and recommended Greer for the job, having been her adviser through her master’s studies and had seen her at work as an extension agent.

Her success as an extension educator was because “she was a teacher at heart,” Kirkpatrick said. “It took her about 15 minutes to win over the farmers in Lafayette County, because she was out there with them.

“She might show up at suppertime on a Friday night at a farmer’s house and say, ‘I just walked through your rice field and you’ve got blast and you probably need to think about spraying that first of next week’,” Kirkpatrick said. “She was just Johnny-on-the-spot and she’d take them out there to look for blast or root knot nematodes, or whatever the disease of the week was.”

“Quietly and not in the headlines, she had a significant impact through all the things she did,” Kirkpatrick said.

Ken Korth, head of the entomology and plant pathology department for the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences and the Division of Agriculture, said “we were so fortunate that Amanda was able to take on the leadership position at the nematode diagnostic lab. 

“Her expertise and approach made her an outstanding diagnostician. I think her strong performance truly benefited from a broad background in agriculture, having served as a county agent and working on the family farm,” Korth said. “Amanda earned her master’s degree in our department working under the direction of Dr. Terry Kirkpatrick. It was especially enjoyable to have one of our alumni back working as a colleague.” 

Jerri Dew, Lafayette County extension staff chair, said that Greer was highly respected in the row crop community.

“Many Lafayette County farmers still had close ties to her and consulted with her regularly,” Dew said. “When I came to work in Lafayette County, Amanda helped me more than any other person in extension. She is going to be sorely missed by a lot of people.”

Greer is survived by her husband of 22 years, William "Shotgun” Greer, and daughter, Dakota Greer.

A visitation and funeral service were held in Lake Village.

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. 

Cattle buying, steak sampling coming to the 2024 Beef and Forage Field Day in Hope

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Researchers and extension specialists with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture will present on future forage programs, hay verification and winter feed options at the Beef and Forage Field Day next month.

BEEF AND FORAGE — The 2024 Beef and Forage Field Day will take place on April 5 at the Southwest Research and Extension Center in Hope. Research updates, cattle buying tips and vaccine management are all on the agenda. (Division of Agriculture photo).

The event is scheduled to take place on April 5 at the Southwest Research and Extension Center in Hope. Those interested in registering or learning more about the event can contact the center at 870-777-9702. There is no cost to register.

Alongside the research and extension updates, Daniel Rivera, associate professor of animal science and the center’s director, will be introducing Jonathan Kubesch, a new assistant professor and forage specialist who starts with the Division of Agriculture on April 1. Experts from outside the Division of Agriculture will also discuss cattle markets and outlooks and the proper management of vaccines for cattle health.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to compare steak samples from cattle that were finished at the station against steak bought from a grocery store. This was made possible as part of an Arkansas Beef Council grant, Rivera said.

“I am excited to showcase the projects we have done at the station, as well as having a local order buyer discuss discounts and premiums and have that visual example for the producers,” he said.

A cattle order buyer purchases cattle at livestock auctions, usually on behalf of another party, like a stocker operator, feedlot or meat processing company.

“Hopefully producers can come away with insight on what type of cattle they should be producing,” Rivera said.

Rivera thanked the Ouachita district extension ag agents for working with him to put the event together.

Speakers and topics:

• Kubesch will discuss his upcoming forage programs with the Division of Agriculture.

• Michelle Johnson, a graduate research assistant in the department of animal science, will share updates on her beef finishing study.

• Les Walz, agriculture and forages educator, will discuss the hay verification program.

• Maggie Justice, assistant professor and beef cattle specialist, will discuss winter feed options.

• Jake Cartwright, director of commodity activities and economics for beef, equine and dairy, for AR Farm Bureau.

• Ken Blue, senior food animal technical consultant at Elanco, and Harold Newcomb, technical services veterinarian at Merck Animal Health, will host a veterinarian roundtable to discuss vaccines and methods to improve calf health.

• Lanny Ford, owner of F&F Cattle, will discuss the good and bad traits he looks for when purchasing cattle.

The schedule is as follows:

• 9:00-9:30 — Registration

• 9:30-9:45 — Future forage programs with Kubesch

• 9:45-10:00 — Beef finishing study with Johnson

• 10:00-10:30 — Hay verification program with Walz

• 10:30-11:00 — Winter feed options with Justice

• 11:00-11:30 — Cattle Market Outlook with Cartwright

• 11:30-12:30 — Veterinarian roundtable on vaccines and methods to improve calf health with Blue and Newcomb

• 1:00 — Premiums and discounts in purchasing feeder/stocker cattle with Lanny Ford, F&F Cattle

Lunch will be served from 12:30-1:00 p.m.

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. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu.

Pests, weeds, variety trials focus of Horticulture Field Day in Hope

By John Lovett
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station

HOPE, Ark. — More than 130 people braved the heat Wednesday at the 2023 Horticulture Field Day to hear from experts with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture on issues facing Arkansas specialty crop growers.

Crowd of field day participants listens to researcher's presentation.

FIELD DAY — The 2023 Horticulture Field Day featured talks on a variety of subjects, including pest and weed control. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo)

The Southwest Research and Extension Center hosted the annual event with information on growing blackberries, watermelons, peaches, pumpkins and ornamental trees. People from 27 counties in Arkansas and two counties in Texas attended.

Management tactics to combat pests were a dominant theme across the field trials, including research that seeks pumpkin varieties with natural tolerance or resistance to the dreaded melonworm that damaged a significant portion of the state’s pumpkin crop in 2020-2021. Melonworm, Diaphania hyalinata, is a tropical moth species that migrates to Arkansas each year from coastal regions from August to October.

Aaron Cato, extension horticulture integrated pest management specialist, said the pumpkin trial includes nine varieties from four different cucurbit species planted in mid-June and again after July 1. The experiment, supported by a Specialty Block Grant administered by the Arkansas Department of Agriculture, will also help establish an action threshold for the pest and investigate other sustainable management tactics.

Matt Bertucci, assistant professor of horticulture, is testing more than a dozen varieties of seedless watermelons from five seed companies to determine growth quality in Arkansas. The study, also supported by a Specialty Block Grant, includes varieties like Exceed, Onza, El Capitan, Crackerjack and Blackjack. Bertucci included several varieties of seeded cantaloupe in the study to help determine the number of days to ripen in Arkansas.

Bertucci said he hopes his study can provide Arkansas growers with growth and management information more specific to Arkansas. He added that most major seed companies evaluate their varieties in states with larger horticultural industries, like Florida. “But what if some of these varieties that do well in Florida come up short in Arkansas?”

Bertucci's melon study seeks information like fruit count, fruit size, sweetness level and ripening date.

To help manage annual grass and small-seeded broadleaf weeds in watermelon fields, Bertucci said Dual Magnum, a trade name for S-metolachlor, now has a five-year, 24(c) pre-emergent herbicide registration with the Arkansas State Plant Board for use in watermelon fields. He also remarked on the new registration of Optogen (bicyclopyrone) as a “clean-up” material in the row middles. Bertucci said that Optogen was federally registered for use in watermelons late last year.

Bertucci recommended specialty crop growers inspect the Division of Agriculture’s MP44 publication for more information on herbicides registered in Arkansas.

Theresa Mitzler, a Miller County Master Gardener, said she has attended the Horticulture Field Day since 2017 to learn from researchers and extension specialists.

Roderick Greene of Camden also attended to support his operations at Titan Farm, where he grows sweet potatoes and cut flowers.

“It was worth the heat,” Greene said. Temperatures swelled into the high 90s with high humidity by noon.

Other Division of Agriculture faculty who presented sessions at the field day included:

Anthony Bowden, assistant professor of horticulture and ornamental extension specialist, gave a presentation on grafting Japanese maples and Eastern Redbuds.

Wendell Hutchens, assistant professor of turfgrass science, provided guidance for dealing with Large Patch, Spring Dead Spot and Gray Leaf Spot.

Amanda McWhirt, horticulture extension specialist, described how to use a rotating cross-arm trellis system to grow blackberries.

Hannah Wright-Smith, extension weed specialist, provided steps to take when reestablishing an abandoned peach orchard, and updates on turfgrass herbicide trials.

Daniel Rivera, director of the Southwest Research and Extension Center, thanked the guests for their attendance and commended his staff for their diligence in preparing the grounds for the researchers’ studies.

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. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu.