Texas A&M
Lifescapes life sciences
Vol. 4 No. 2 Summer 2004
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agriculture
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natural resources
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communities
Catfish Co-op Nets Millions A Case for Urban Open Spaces Digitizing Dragonflies Poultry Prof Produces Champions
The Agriculture Program • The Texas A&M University System
Looking Over the Horizon
Leadership, Change and Continuity If you are a regular Lifescapes reader, you know that this space is usually reserved for Ed Hiler to write about the Agriculture Program. In this issue, we turn the tables to celebrate his career accomplishments and leadership of the Agriculture Program in a story beginning on page 26. On August 31, Dr. Edward A. Hiler will retire from his position as vice chancellor for Agriculture and Life Sciences, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and director of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. Over 12 years of remarkable leadership, Ed brought The Texas A&M University System universities and agriculture agencies into a dynamic, synergistic partnership known as the Agriculture Program. Through this partnership, we have become more effective by coordinating our programs and facilities around the state, better utilizing human resources, and working in multiagency and multidisciplinary teams. Our work together has also helped us increase access to education, expand industry partnerships, and attract more external funding. Ed Hiler tirelessly promoted “collective leadership” among faculty and administration and sought input from both within and outside the organization. He led Ag Program 21, a visioning effort that helped us identify broad goals for the future. In many respects, his example as a leader changed the culture of our organization. I speak on behalf of all the deans, agency directors, associate vice chancellors and other administrators within the system-wide Agriculture Program in saying that we greatly appreciate the outstanding leadership, support and vision Ed Hiler provided during his term of service. Now, however, we must look to the future. The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents has appointed a Search Advisory Committee that is expected to recommend a list of leading candidates to the President and the Chancellor in early summer. As a member of the committee, I can assure you we intend to find an exceptionally well qualified and capable individual to lead the Agriculture Program. While we honor Ed Hiler in these pages, most of this Lifescapes issue is devoted to current efforts, including Texas Cooperative Extension’s diabetes education program, the latest horticulture research, and programs to help Hispanic students and their families prepare for college. For even with an upcoming leadership change, our focus rightly remains where it has always been—on fulfilling our agency and institutional missions of providing the highest-quality teaching, research and Extension programs in service to the people of Texas.
Lifescapes (ISSN 1539-1817) is published three times a year by The Texas A&M University System Agriculture Program. Edward A. Hiler Vice Chancellor for Agriculture and Life Sciences Prairie View A&M University Tarleton State University Texas A&M University Texas A&M University-Commerce Texas A&M University-Kingsville West Texas A&M University Texas Agricultural Experiment Station Texas Cooperative Extension Texas Forest Service Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory Published by Agricultural Communications Ellen Ritter, Head, Agricultural Communications Dave Mayes, Associate Head, Agricultural Communications Helen White, Production Editor Jon Mondrik, Art Director Send comments, questions or subscription requests to Lifescapes Editor, Agricultural Communications, Texas A&M University, 2112 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-2112. Or call (979) 845-2211, fax (979) 845-2414 or e-mail agprogram@tamu.edu. Visit our Web site at http://agprogram.tamu.edu for more information about our academic, research, extension and service programs and to sign up for our monthly e-letter, What’s New? All programs and related activities of The Texas A&M University System Agriculture Program are open to all persons regardless of race, color, age, sex, handicap, religion or national origin. Copyright 2004 by The Texas A&M University System Agriculture Program. Written material may be reprinted provided no endorsement of a commercial product is stated or implied. Please credit Lifescapes, The Texas A&M University System Agriculture Program.
ON THE COVER Wetland marsh in the protected Katy Prairie Conservancy. See related story on page 6. http://www.katyprairie.org Photo by Jerrold Summerlin
Chester P. Fehlis Associate Vice Chancellor and Director, Texas Cooperative Extension
17,500 copies printed
Not printed at state expense MKT-3475
C O N T E N T S Vo l . 4 N o . 2 , Su m m e r 2004 • T h e Te x a s A & M A g r i c u l t u r e P r o g r a m FEATURES
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A Fish Tale 2 Catfish co-op nets $17 million for Texas Gulf Coast region
Smart Growth 6 Leaving some land undeveloped controls flooding and pollution
Scanned Alive 9
Improved varieties make gardening a snap
Something to Crow About 16 50 years of teaching excellence
Do Well, Be Well 18 Extension helps hundreds learn to manage their diabetes
Abriendo Puertas 22 Hispanic parents ‘opening doors’ to college for their children
‘Together We Can’ 26 Ed Hiler retires after 12 years as vice chancellor
Outfoxing Rabies 30
DEPARTMENTS Trailblazers 5 Site Seeing 11 State Gems 15 One Spirit One Vision One Voice 19 Frontiers of Discovery 29
Airdrop vaccine program checks spread of deadly disease
Giving Matters 32
18 Jim Lyle
Texas Department of Health
Texas Friendly 12
Tim McAlavy
Good science produces great art
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A Fi s h Ta l e
Catfish co-op nets $17 million for Texas Gulf Coast region by Tim McAlavy
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Jerrold Summerlin
Tim McAlavy
t was a fishy situation, literally. Market prices for corn, cotton, rice, grain sorghum and cattle were in a slump. Seeking to diversify their operations, some producers along the Texas Gulf Coast tried their hand at raising catfish. They quickly learned they could successfully raise catfish from fingerlings to marketable weight. But marketing proved to be a problem. “I could raise the fish all right, but we only had one buyer in this area, and they couldn’t always take all the fish we wanted to harvest,” says Mark Shimek, who farms near Port Lavaca in Calhoun County. “So, I tried processing and selling my own fish. That was a messy and expensive proposition. We couldn’t move enough fish that way.” Mike Hanson of Matagorda County faced the same situation. “As more of us got into catfish, we realized that one buyer just wasn’t going to cut it. We were waiting in line on the same buyer,” he says. “That can push your production risk to unacceptable levels, because the longer your fish are in the water, the greater the odds of something going wrong. You need to harvest and market them when they are ready.” There simply had to be a better way. Shimek, Hanson and other catfish producers turned to Texas Cooperative Extension agents in Matagorda, Wharton and Calhoun counties. “In 2000, we started getting calls from folks interested in raising catfish,” says Logan Respess, former Extension marine OPPOSITE: A tub of catfish is unloaded at the Texas Aquaculture Cooperative processing plant near Markham, Texas. ABOVE: Logan Respess, as Texas Cooperative Extension’s marine agent in Matagorda County, was one of the early organizers of the catfish producers in three counties along the Texas Gulf Coast.
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agent in Matagorda County, now an Extension agent in Aransas County. “These folks needed help either getting started or improving a small, existing operation. And they needed help to establish a reliable marketing system . . . that was the common thread.” “We were already looking for ways to help producers diversify their operations and boost agricultural profitability and local economies,” adds Brent Batchelor, Extension agent for agriculture and natural resources in Matagorda County. “We realized they could mount a watershed enterprise with tremendous economic potential if we could provide the right guidance and resources.” Batchelor and Respess went to work with Extension agents John O’Connell (Calhoun County) and Richard Jahn (Wharton County). They set up a series of educational workshops focusing on start-up needs, pond water quality and management, and fish health— using the expertise of Dr. Michael Masser, Extension fisheries specialist at College Station, among others. “Our first meeting drew more than 110 producers, and from there it just snowballed,” Masser says. “These producers have the land and water for catfish production, and they have a 300- to 310-day growing season. They can produce more fish at a lower fixed cost than catfish producers in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana or Arkansas.” With Masser’s help, the agents put together and distributed educational materials and a newsletter on catfish production, and established partnerships with local and regional economic development representatives. “I was looking for local start-up enterprises that we could put our weight behind,” says Loy Sneary, a Gulf Coast farmer-
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rancher and economic development consultant with the Lower Colorado River Authority. “We saw right away that these folks had tremendous drive, resources and potential.” “Jobs are a key element here. Matagorda County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state. That’s why LCRA, several electric cooperatives, and city and county elected officials support this enterprise. We met with Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs, and she backed us wholeheartedly.” Judy Fort, a development specialist with the Texas Department of Agriculture, was assigned to work first-hand with the co-op. She provided expertise in grant writing, logo and label design, and Web site development. Support for the enterprise grew to include the Wharton County and Jackson electric cooperatives, economic development corporations in El Campo, Matagorda County and Bay City, and the Coastal Plains Agri-Business Incubator. With this momentum, in late 2001, producers formed the Catfish Association of Texas (CAT) and established a catfish section within the Texas Aquaculture Association, which provides trade support and an organized voice in dealing with governmental regulatory agencies. Soon after the CAT was formed, the producers commissioned an economic feasibility study through Dr. Greg Clary, Extension economist at Overton and leader of the Texas Center for Rural Entrepreneurship. The center and Extension’s rural entrepreneurship program help rural citizens develop business and marketing plans, secure loans, keep accurate books and meet government requirements. “It was a chicken-and-egg scenario,” Clary says. “What comes first, catfish production or a processing facility? Our survey of producers revealed they had the resources and ability to produce catfish in quantity, but needed a processing facility to integrate production with available markets. Catfish production is very attractive to producers who are facing ABOVE: (from left) Crane-operated nets pull catfish from the ponds; catfish production ponds can generate 8,000 to 10,000 pounds of fish per acre; Extension agent Logan Respess (left), catfish producer Steve Klingaman (center) and Extension fisheries specialist Peter Woods examine catfish hauled into the plant in Markham for processing; the plant processes one to three 25,000-pound truckloads of fresh fish each week.
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reduced prices for other agricultural commodities. And they quickly recognized Texans consume more aquaculture products than they produce.” The positive feasibility study provided the impetus for 31 producers to form the Texas Aquaculture Cooperative in the fall of 2002. Shimek is the co-op president and Hanson is vice president. They began processing their local catfish harvests in a building donated by Harold Bowers of Bowers Shrimp Company in Palacios. With some production and processing under their belts, co-op members realized they needed more day-to-day help than Masser could provide, so they appealed to Texas A&M agriculture officials for help. “We went to College Station and asked for our own Extension fisheries specialist,” Sneary says. “Dr. Ed Hiler and Dr. Chester Fehlis recognized the potential in this, and agreed to fund a specialist position. They really stuck their necks out for our producers at a time when all state agencies were being told to cut their budgets and tighten their belts.” Peter Woods became the Extension fisheries program specialist in the summer of 2002 and began working with co-op members to improve and expand their production ponds. He has helped growers produce 8,000 to 10,000 pounds of fish per acre. Most co-op members have several 8- to 10-acre ponds. A few months later, with a business and marketing plan in hand, co-op members pooled $415,000 of their own start-up capital and built a 5,250-square-foot processing facility near Markham. The plant can process 150,000 pounds of fresh catfish per week. The plant churned out more than 867,000 pounds of catfish in the last year, employs 24 full-time workers, and has pumped more than $17 million into the regional economy. “We aren’t running at full capacity right now, but that will come in time,” says Troy Shimek, general manager of the co-op. “We process one to three 25,000-pound truckloads of fresh fish per week. The producers call us when they have fish ready to harvest and then we get moving. “We sample fish from the pond and conduct a taste test. If the fish are ‘on-flavor,’ we send a crew out to seine the pond. Then we truck the fish to our plant.”
Texas A&M Lifescapes
Photos: Jerrold Summerlin
Most of the catfish weigh between 2 and 10 pounds. After processing, they are packed and shipped to buyers as close as Houston, the largest nearby market, or as far away as California. “Producing catfish through the co-op is definitely profitable,” says producer Steve Klingaman. “I am a small producer compared to some of the others. It cost me $4,500 per acre to establish my ponds, but I am already seeing a return. The co-op pays me 62 cents per pound, live weight, on the pond bank when I harvest my fish.” The co-op recently received a $245,000 matching grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for working capital to add frozen catfish to their array of available products. Plans are also under way to expand the processing plant by adding a cold storage freezer and a freezing tunnel. “An Individual Quick Frozen tunnel freezes the product very quickly, without any loss of taste or texture,” Woods explains. “With this technology, our producers will be set to expand their sales-marketing base beyond the fresh fish market and put more ponds into production. “Texans consume about 45 percent of all the catfish produced in the United States, but we produce less than 2 percent of all that catfish. We’re out to change that. Our next goal is to increase pond acreage from 1,500 to 2,000 acres by the end of 2004. With the dedication, drive and commitment these guys have, I have no doubt we will make it.”
Web sites http://www.texascatfish.com. http://www.tcre.org.
Summer 2004
Dr. Wayne Hayenga, Texas Cooperative Extension agricultural economist specializing in farm and ranch real estate planning, received the Southern Agricultural Economics Association Lifetime Achievement Award. Hayenga, who has been with The Texas A&M University System for 32 years, develops Extension educational programs in income tax and estate planning, as well as financial management.
Trailblazers
Dr. Fuller Bazer, associate vice chancellor for agriculture and life sciences, is the 2004 recipient of the Carl G. Hartman Award, the highest and most prestigious award from the Society for the Study of Reproduction.
Dr. Ronnie Edwards, associate department head of animal science at Texas A&M University, received the Advanced Degree Graduate of Distinction Award from the Oklahoma State University department of animal science. The award is presented annually to a former student who has earned a master's or doctorate degree from Oklahoma State and has attained professional excellence in the field of animal agriculture. Dr. Don Wilkerson, Texas Cooperative Extension horticulturist, was given the Arp Award by the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association. The award, named for a former leading nursery in Arp, Texas, recognizes those who exemplify dedication and the highest in ethical and business values. Wilkerson joined Extension more than 20 years ago and has been instrumental in creating the horticultural gardens at Texas A&M. Mr. Edward Romero, assistant dean in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, was honored with two awards for his work to promote diversity at Texas A&M. He received the Texas A&M University Department of Multicultural Services Administrator Award for minority recruitment efforts that helped the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences realize a 14 percent increase in Hispanic student enrollment last year. Romero was also instrumental in Abriendo Puertas, a program that educates Hispanic students and their parents about college enrollment and careers in agriculture and life sciences (see related story on p. 22). For his work with the student organization Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences, Romero received the Adviser of the Year for a Registered Organization Award during Texas A&M’s Parent’s Weekend Awards ceremony this spring. The Southern Association of Agricultural Experiment Station Directors awarded the 2004 Excellence in Leadership Award posthumously to Dr. Charley Scifres, former deputy director of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. The award recognizes individuals who achieve excellence in research as well as leadership in research administration for southern experiment stations and the national land-grant system. The association also passed a resolution to honor Dr. Frank Gilstrap, professor of entomology, for his significant contribution to the association as administrative adviser to development committees and multistate projects related to pest management systems.
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Smart Growth
Leaving some land undeveloped controls flooding and pollution by Lorri Jones
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Texas A&M Lifescapes
Photos: Jerrold Summerlin
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omething’s got to give. For years, growing cities such as Houston have expanded mainly at the edges, gobbling up rural lands for suburbs full of houses, shopping centers and streets. What’s continued to shrink has been nature’s capacity to absorb the water-related consequences of this growth. Wetlands, marshes, forests and even agricultural lands serve as a “sponge” and filtering system in nature, holding hundreds of thousands of gallons of water and cleaning it as it is slowly released into the bayous and other waterways. As the wetlands and marshes are covered by concrete or other hard surfaces, the water has nowhere to “wait” before it enters the bayous, and the result is extreme flooding, erosion and pollution of bays and estuaries. Dr. John Jacob, a specialist for environmental quality with Texas Cooperative Extension, is trying to create greater awareness of this problem in the Houston area through the Texas Coastal Watershed Program (TCWP). How serious is this problem? Jacob says you only have to do the math. The most respected population projections, he says, predict almost 4 million more people will come to Greater Houston within the next 30-plus years. That’s a little more than twice the current population of metropolitan Houston. If all of the growth goes to the suburbs, where the population density averages 4,000 people per square mile, at least 1,000 additional square miles of agricultural land, prairies and forests will be destroyed. That is more land than the City of Houston covers now. “There’s no question that such a loss will have a substantial negative impact on the water quality of Galveston Bay, one of the most productive estuaries in the nation and an important economic linchpin to the region’s economy,” he says. The more pavement there is, the more runoff there will be, and consequently more flooding, Jacob says. The more you pave, the more you must do to somehow mitigate your negative impacts. Artificial storm-water detention ponds help, but they are expensive to build and replace only some of the lost functions of natural wetlands and prairies.
“Large areas of undeveloped land are the most important investment we can make for the future of our water quality,” Jacob explains. “But if there is going to be growth, you can do some things that minimize the ecological footprint of human activity.” Jacob’s program focuses on educating citizens and elected officials on three primary tools for lessening the impact of massive urban sprawl: land preservation, low-impact development, and smart growth. Through its affiliation with the national Non-point Education for Municipal Officials network and the HoustonGalveston Area Council, TCWP is developing educational programs to train Upper Gulf Coast officials to manage urban growth. Jacob joined with Ricardo Lopez, Extension geo-information associate, and Dr. Rajavan Srinivasan of the Texas A&M University Spatial Sciences Laboratory, to develop computer programs that simulate the effects of different density scenarios on water quality. OPPOSITE: Construction on a portion of the Katy Prairie west of Houston. Explosive growth threatens water quality and natural resources and adds to flooding problems in the Houston metro area. LEFT: Houston’s new light rail line, which runs 7.5 miles through the congested downtown area, is one of the traffic solutions for more densely populated urban areas. ABOVE: John Jacob, an Extension specialist for environmental quality, says multiuse buildings that offer retail space on the ground floor with residential areas above are the optimum way to build in urban areas.
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TWCP faculty and volunteers used aerial photos and computer software called geographic information systems to map existing wetlands and other habitats. This information educates community planners, parks directors, developers and other interested residents through a number of programs. “Our goal is to put information into their hands,” Jacob says. “We don’t make their decisions for them, we just want to help them make informed decisions.” League City, on the southeastern fringe of greater Houston, is experiencing some severe growing pains. Jacob and his staff are working with citizens and local officials in this city as they try to cope with growth and maintain some quality of life. Jacob reviewed the different kinds of ecological assets within the city limits and what they mean in terms of growth. “With the information John Jacob gave us, we looked at our ecological assets, such as the ancient river bed that runs through our city, and the impact these assets have,” says Rhonda Cyrus, League City parks and recreation director. She explains that the city’s environmental assets were rated low, medium and high so that city planners would have a key as to the most important assets that must be preserved. In turn, they are working with developers as they come in, seeking to influence the shape of growth. Jacob says an alternative for the cities in and around Greater Houston is to be “smart” about where growth is planned. “Smart growth,” he explains, is growth that preserves the quality of life as well as the quality of the environment. It promotes policies and practices that influence the pattern of urban development in such a way that impacts to air and water quality are restricted to smaller areas. This usually means putting more people in less space—not only their homes, but also shopping, parks and other amenities so that they are within walking distance. “Some of the most desirable places to live in this country have population densities in excess of 25,000 people per square mile,” Jacob says, mentioning as high-density examples Charleston, South Carolina, and New Orleans’ French Quarter and Garden District. The TCWP also provides education on “low-impact development,” which is anything that allows water to infiltrate the soil rather than running off. Low-impact strategies can be used in home and building design and in landscaping. The TCWP has received funding from Houston Endowment to continue the WaterSmart Landscape Program, aimed at helping the City of Houston and other municipalities improve landscaping ordinances and practices. Under the leadership of Extension program coordinator Chris LaChance, the TCWP has worked with thousands of citizens in the Greater Houston area to save water through the annual WaterSmart Landscaping Workshop and neighborhood demonstrations and trials. The TCWP is also working with the Harris County Flood Control Department to construct a storm-water wetland in Houston’s East End. Marissa Sipocz, Extension assistant, involves inner-city minority high school students in developing and establishing the wetlands demonstration areas. “Given that these kids come from the fastest-growing segment of Houston’s population [Hispanic], it is important that they have an appreciation for the value of wetlands. They will be calling the shots tomorrow,” Sipocz says.
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The Texas Coastal Watershed Program is a partnership between Texas A&M University’s Sea Grant and Marine Advisory Program, Texas Cooperative Extension and the Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials program.
Web site http://www.urban-nature.org
Growth in League City A
B
C
A. Current development and open space B. Projected effect of 30 years of status quo growth C. Projected effect of alternative dense development (9,000 people per square mile)
Texas A&M Lifescapes
Scanned Alive!
Good Science Produces Great Art by Robert Burns
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n 1996, Dr. Forrest Mitchell remembers feeling frustrated and desperate as he looked at the club-tail dragonfly squirming in his net. The dragonfly is a thing of beauty, iridescent emerald-greens and blues, delicate cell work in the wings, subtle highlights in the eyes. Mitchell, an entomologist with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, needed photographs of the hundred or so other dragonfly species in Texas. But the problem is that, though beautiful in life, the dragonfly is a drab thing in death. Unlike a butterfly, which will conveniently pose for photographs as it sips nectar from flowers, the dragonfly is a predator. As such, it is wary of alighting on anything but for a brief moment, not giving the photographer time to focus and compose. Also, where a butterfly, if handled carefully, shows the same colors in death as it does in life, the dragonfly’s colors begin to fade within minutes of its passing. Its compound eyes lose delicate nuances in an instant, and the wings soon crumble. Mitchell was about to have one of those rare “Eureka!” moments.
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A Living Water-Quality Indicator
the crisper tray of a refrigerator to chill the insect and slow it down. Then they used a cut-out mouse pad to hold the live insect in place on the scanner without the cover deforming it. The results were so startling, Mitchell’s impulse was to drop every other project and do nothing but scan dragonflies.
But, in the first place, why are having color photos of dragonflies so important? In other parts of North America, there are respected guidelines for judging water quality based on aquatic insect life. Entomologists and environmental-quality experts call it the “EPT” index, an acronym which stands for three insect orders: As it turns out, dragonflies appear to be a good indicator of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera. water quality. Some dragonfly species are hardier and tolerate Insects in these orders have long been recognized as indicapolluted ponds better. Others won't tolerate them at all. tors of the cleanness of flowing-water ecosystems. The idea is Within a year of developing the technique and beginning work that, if insects that are sensitive to trace amounts of pollutants on the index, the funding can survive, lay eggs, for the water-quality projdevelop into pupae and ect that had stimulated continue the life cycle, the need for dragonfly the water is clean not photographs dried up. just part of the year, but But that was all right, for all or most of the Mitchell says, for he now year. had a vision. The problem was that “Within 15 seconds, I the standard EPT index knew what I had. Within didn't work in Texas 15 minutes, I knew what ponds and lakes. There I wanted to do with it,” are enough Mitchell recounts. Ephemeroptera (mayflies) Mitchell was thinking and Trichoptera (caddisabout making the dragonflies), but few, if any, fly images available on Plecoptera (stoneflies). the Internet, and, like the Working at The Texas scanning, it was a novel A&M University System idea in 1996. Agricultural Research At the time, high-speed and Extension Center at Internet connections were Stephenville, Mitchell just coming to the regionand research associate al research and extension James Lasswell needed a centers, but Mitchell was substitute for the EPT friends with Clay Helms, index. They decided to a local Internet service see if dragonflies and provider who agreed to dragonfly nymphs could host the pictures for free. serve as an index. But “It was June 1996 when there was no reference I made the first scan. On material with color Sept. 1, we went online images of dragonflies to with the Digital aid in identification. James Lasswell (left) and Dr. Forest Mitchell perfected a way to scan live dragonflies without Dragonflies site and 15 The team needed to harming them. scans.” make its own up-to-date For the next year, collection of reference Mitchell and Lasswell continued to catch dragonflies and add images, but, because of its biology, the dragonfly wasn’t coopnew scans to the Web site. Hits on the page trickled in, increerating for the camera. mentally climbing as people learned of the site. Then, Science, Then Mitchell had a brainstorm, precipitated by a seminar the premier scientific journal published by the American he had recently attended on digital imaging. The conference Association for the Advancement of Science, ran a story on the presenter, Extension agronomist Dr. Billy Warrick, showed Digital Dragonfly Web site in the May 1997 issue. how he digitally captured colors and details of leaves with a After that, the monthly page hits escalated exponentially. flatbed scanner, an uncommon and expensive device in 1996. “Those first scans weren’t all that good. We hadn't really On impulse, Mitchell put a live insect on the scan plate and learned to pose the legs well yet, but they were still better lowered the cover gently so as not to crush it. than most anything out there.” “In 10 seconds it came up on the monitor in full color and The Web site itself was growing as Mitchell and Lasswell detail. I was amazed,” Mitchell says. added more scans and at higher resolution. Other dragonfly Soon afterward, Mitchell and Lasswell developed a techphotographers also began to contribute their images. nique for scanning dragonflies. First, they placed the insect in Robert Burns
From Web Sites to Wiccas
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Texas A&M Lifescapes
Mitchell learned to author Web pages himself and began to operate a second Web site, The Digital Dragonfly Museum. Last year, page hits on the museum site were more than 1.25 million. The Digital Dragonfly site doesn't have a full-featured statistical program, but Mitchell believes its hits remain near the million-a-year level too. And all this on-line attention has spawned other projects. Mitchell and Lasswell have developed a series of posters for sale. The profits go back into the Digital Dragonfly project. They also have a coffee-table book in the works. It’s now in the final revision stages with a New York publisher. The book, whose title has yet to be decided, will have 130 full-color illustrations, plus information on prehistoric dragonflies, taxonomy, biology and more. The Web sites continue to spawn international collaborations. Mitchell and Lasswell have been working recently with entomologists in Japan to include images of oriental species. They continue to get requests from schools, businesses and individuals to use their images for coursework—or whatever. Even a coven of Wiccas, for whom the dragonfly is a totem, recently contacted Mitchell. “We allow free use by any non-profit organization, or if it just seems like a fun thing,” Mitchell says. Meanwhile, the hits on the Web site continue to climb, and it is popular with everyone from school children to professional entomologists. “Other sites have taxonomy and biology. We don’t have much of that. We have links to sites that do, but our emphasis is on pictures—lots and lots of pictures of many species,” Mitchell says.
Fire Ant Photo Gallery This site contains more than 100 pictures of fire ants, their mounds and the correct methods for fire ant control. http://fireant.tamu.edu/materials/graphics/ photo/phototxt.html
Cotton Insects Cotton is King in Texas. According to the National Cotton Council of America, Texas produces more cotton than any other state—4.5 million bales each year. Like any other crop, pest control is a concern. Visit this site to view more than 100 images of cotton insects in Texas, from the boll weevil to white flies. http://insects.tamu.edu/images/insects/color/ cotton/cindex.html
Agricultural Pests No matter where you live or what you grow, the Texas A&M department of entomology can
Summer 2004
The Web site is not just a collection of pretty pictures; it’s an on-line dragonfly-species reference tool, suited for use by professional scientists. Mitchell has included both low-resolution and high-resolution images on the Web sites. Low resolution images download faster. The site includes scans of not just one sample of a species, but multiple specimens of each sex. Anyone trying to identify a particular dragonfly can view the variations in color and size of many species. These images are to scale when viewed in Adobe Photoshop (a popular digital darkroom program). Exact measurements of a living specimen from the field may be compared to the on-line version. But you don’t have to be a scientist to visit the Web site, Mitchell emphasizes. “We’re for everybody,” he says.
Web sites http://www.dragonflies.org The Digital Dragonfly Museum http://stephenville.tamu.edu/~fmitchel/dragonfly/index.html
help you identify Texas agricultural pests with this database. You can search by common name, scientific name, selected hosts and commodities to bring up a photo gallery of insects. http://insects.tamu.edu:7998/imagedb/ search.html
Vegetable IPM Photo Gallery for the Home Garden Visit this site to identify and learn how to deal with unwanted insects. Click on a category, and then click on the specific insect to bring up its description and the damage it causes. This site also allows you to search the IPM (Integrated Pest Management) Web site to learn cultural, biological and chemical controls for these pests. http://vegipm.tamu.edu/imageindex.html
related insects. Clicking on a specific insect photo will take you to information on that insect. Each information page includes the common name of the insect, its life cycle, food source, pest status and more. http://insects.tamu.edu/images/insects/ common/index.htm
Grain Sorghum Insect Image Gallery Texas Cooperative Extension has compiled a photo gallery of common grain sorghum insect pests in four categories: seed and root, stem and leaf, stem-boring and grain-head insect pests. Click on the “Go to Sorghum Insect Photo Credits and Image Index” link to view even more uncategorized grain sorghum pests. http://insects.tamu.edu/images/insects/color/ sorghum/gcindex.html
Site Seeing
More Entomology Photo Galleries:
Good Science equals Good Art
Common Insects of Texas Visit this site to view 381 images of Texas insects in16 index categories. Clicking on the index that interests you will bring up photos of
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Texas Friendly Improved varieties make gardening a snap by Jennifer Paul
Jerrold Summerlin
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ennifer Kemp is new to gardening and new to Texas. Her attempts to add interest to her landscape have not always been successful. “I planted gerbera daisies in my front yard because they were pretty, and I thought they added color to my otherwise boring yard,” says Kemp, a native of Pennsylvania who recently moved to Euless. “Unfortunately, I didn’t know they would fry in the sun. I tend to pick the ones that are pretty and not the ones that are suited for my environment.” Tackling problems faced by Kemp and other home gardeners has long occupied horticultural researchers at The Texas A&M University System Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Dallas. Research there has led to the release of new varieties of all kinds of ornamental plants better suited for the Texas landscape. “The green industry is one of the major industries we serve out of the Dallas Center, and certainly the development of plant materials that grow well in this climate and also save water, pesticides and fertilizer are positive improvements in our environment,” says Dr. Tim Davis, the center’s resident director. “Most projects at the Dallas Center are looking at some aspect of this.” Horticultural research began in Dallas 42 years ago with the work of the late Benny Simpson. He researched 345 plants and was able to take nine formerly wild species of native Texas plants into commercial production. Dr. Cynthia McKenney, urban horticulture researcher and Texas Cooperative Extension specialist, carries on this research and will soon release four improved varieties of native flowers. “I have been working in water-conserving landscapes for about 20 years,” she says. “I think there is a lot of potential in making native wildflowers in Texas more drought tolerant.” McKenney began her research in 1996, collecting seeds each year from top-performing wildflowers at more than 20 locations. Four native plants will be released in the next year: Blackfoot Daisy, Prairie Verbena, Mealy Sage and Square-Bud Day Primrose. McKenney describes these as “improved natives.” “So we don’t have exactly what was on the roadside, we have something a little better,” she says. Dr. Wayne Mackay, an environmental horticulture researcher with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station at the Dallas Center, is also completing 13 years of research on six improved oleander varieties. “Oleanders are very tough in terms of such environmental stresses as pollution and drought and are fairly insect-resistant,” Mackay says. “They are especially deer resistant and salinity tolerant with an extended blooming period. “But ordinary oleanders don’t like cold very much. The Dallas area is about as far north as they can survive,” he says. “Cold winters in the late 1980s froze most of them out. We are trying to improve their cold tolerance so we can have them in Dallas and places a little farther north.” Mackay’s collaborator, Extension horticulturist Dr. Jerry Parsons of San Antonio, collected open-pollinated seed from five oleander varieties, two of which are the most cold-hardy available. “We planted them in El Paso and San Antonio and then eventually in Dallas, College Station and Lubbock,” Parsons says. “If the leaf burned at all from the cold, that selection was eliminated.” OPPOSITE: Landscaping for Texas conditions yields beautiful results, as in this setting at The Natural Gardener, a nursery in Austin.
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Prairie Verbena (Glandularia bipinnitipida) Rivals commercially available verbena. High resistance to drought and insects. Will bloom through summer. Vibrant purple color. Compact Texas native has built-in tolerance for high-pH soils.
Square-Bud Day Primrose (Calylophus berlandieri pinifolius) Unique, delicate plant grows about 2 feet tall. Yellow flowers bloom most of summer. Makes small shrub in fall. Drought tolerant, but don’t over-water.
Mealy Sage (Salvia farinacea) Violet flowers with gray-green foliage. Blooms spring and fall. Darker blue flowers than other native salvias. Tolerates drought and heat. Grows 2 to 3 feet tall. Can use in back of a border planting.
Blackfoot Daisy (Melampodium leucanthum) Looks like a little bouquet of white daisies. Stays low. An easy-to-use bedding plant. Grows naturally in gravelly, well-drained soil and on slopes, and is very drought tolerant. Performs well in wind and sun.
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From the original 500 plants, researchers discarded about 50 percent within the first two years. By 1997, they narrowed the selection down to just 10 and chose the final six in 2000. “We looked at selecting individuals for color or compact size or number of flowers, all those things that make it a very good ornamental,” Mackay says. “What we came up with were five varieties that are fairly cold tolerant and a dwarf variety that was simply unique.” The six new and improved oleander varieties—Cranberry Cooler, Grenadine Glacé, Pink Lemonade, Peppermint Parfait, Raspberry Sherbet and Petite Peaches and Cream—will be available at garden retailers within the next two years. “We achieved our original goal to have oleanders that are hardy in North Central Texas and similar climates,” Mackay says. “We hope to use these varieties as a foundation to develop even more cold-hardy varieties.” In the late 1990s, Mackay and Davis released two varieties of long-stem bluebonnets now available at local florists. Also, gardeners can plant their own bluebonnets thanks largely to their research. In the works is a pink, long-stem bluebonnet which should be available in two to three years. The Dallas Center is also building the world’s most complete collection of crape myrtles to foster research and education about this versatile landscape plant. The collection will be planted on seven acres and contain 5,560 crape myrtles of 140 varieties. The collection should be completed by the end of 2005. Dallas is one of the 25 test sites of the Texas Superstar program, conducted by Extension and the Experiment Station. Plants that perform well with little maintenance after years of testing in the Texas climate are identified as super-performing plants and promoted to both nurseries and consumers. Thus far, 38 plants have received the Texas Superstar designation. Research in the center’s EarthKind rose gardens continues this same effort. Roses with this recognition (13 and counting) must be of the toughest stock and perform well without chemical application and little maintenance. Nancy Furth, a Master Gardener in Collin County, says she loves to help others discover the joys of gardening, and providing that help depends on the research that ensures success. “I am incredibly impressed with the horticultural research and Extension programs from Texas A&M,” Furth says. “Without them we wouldn’t have the variety of plants we do now. The community isn’t always aware of what grows well in Texas and with this kind of research we can provide good, sound information on what will grow in their gardens.” The information will help gardeners like Jennifer Kemp. “Now that I know there are plants specifically designed for the climate in North Texas, it will help me make better choices for my landscaping,” Kemp says. “And knowing that I am choosing varieties that will survive the summer heat and help the environment, that is a huge bonus. “Now I just can’t wait to try gardening again, the correct way.” Web site http://www.TexasSuperstar.com
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Cranberry Cooler Oleander Dark-pink to cranberry flowers. Grows 6 to 8 feet tall.
Grenadine Glacé Oleander Dark-red petal lobes with a velvety iridescence that brings out scarlet highlights and almost black shadows. Grows 6 to 8 feet tall.
Pink Lemonade Oleander Vibrant hot-pink petal lobes with a yellow flower throat. Grows 6 to 8 feet tall.
Peppermint Parfait Oleander Medium-pink petal lobes; off-white stamens twisted in a rope. Grows 6 to 8 feet tall.
Raspberry Sherbet Oleander Evenly colored deep-pink petal lobes that form points at the outer edge and slightly twisted clockwise. Deep-pink flower throat with intense, deep-pink crown and corona. Grows 6 to 8 feet tall.
Petite Peaches and Cream Oleander Creamy-yellow flower. A dwarf that grows up to 4 feet tall. Not as cold-hardy. Requires less pruning because it stays in a compact shape.
Texas A&M Lifescapes
Because of its exceptional disease resistance and hardiness, the ‘Knock Out’ rose is now a Texas Superstar. During a fouryear research study at The Texas A&M University System Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Dallas, scientists found ‘Knock Out’ to be one of the finest landscape roses they had ever tested. Extremely easy to grow, this tough rose is highly resistant to black spot and powdery mildew, and so pest tolerant it almost never needs pesticides. Other desirable traits include cold hardiness throughout Texas, ability to grow in a wide range of soils (even highly alkaline clays), and, once established, excellent heat and drought tolerance. Its fluorescent, cherry-red blooms begin in spring and continue until first frost. ‘Knock Out’ previously was one of the few roses given the EarthKind designation by Texas A&M horticulturalists for its beauty, landscape performance and ease of care (see related story on p. 12). Go to http://www.TexasSuperstar.com for more information on the Texas Superstar program or to find the nearest official Texas Superstar retailer.
A&M Tapped to Lead Homeland Security Consortium Texas A&M will serve as the lead institution for the National Center for Foreign Animal and Zoonotic Disease Defense, sharing an $18 million Department of Homeland Security grant with partner institutions over the next three years. Other members of the consortium are the University of Texas Medical Branch, the University of California at Davis, the University of Southern California, Texas Tech University and the University of Maryland. The center will focus on prevention, detection and early response to the spread of livestock diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease, Rift Valley Fever and avian influenza. The more than 30 projects funded for the next three years will enhance national security and advance science related to animal dis-
Summer 2004
ease. Dr. Neville P. Clarke, director of Texas A&M’s Institute for Countermeasures against Agricultural Bioterrorism, will head the center.
Borlaug Fellows Program Promotes World Science Exchange U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman recently announced the Norman Borlaug International Science and Technology Fellows Program, which will give scientists, policymakers and entrepreneurs from developing countries an opportunity to learn about the U.S. agricultural system and the latest technological innovations. Open to participants worldwide, the program will focus on African, South American and Asian nations and will offer short-term scientific training in the United States to support the exchange of researchers, policymakers and university faculty for about 100 fellows each year. USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service in cooperation with the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of State, and land-grant colleges will administer the program. The Agriculture Program at Texas A&M will be the lead university to help implement the program. Norman Borlaug, a distinguished professor of international agriculture at Texas A&M and often hailed as the father of the Green Revolution, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his success in developing high-yielding dwarf wheat varieties and reversing severe food shortages that haunted India and Pakistan in the 1960s. He is president of the Sasakawa Africa Association, which works with the Carter Center in encouraging sustainable development and raising the productivity of African farmers. He is also a senior consultant to the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico.
Volunteers Take Extension to Millions Last year, more than 150,000 Texas Cooperative Extension volunteers touched the lives of nearly 5.5 million
people—a service valued at more than $420 million. John Cooper, Extension horticulturist in Denton County and chair of the North Texas Extension Volunteer Committee, points out that Extension offers practical education based on university research, and volunteers do the hard work of extending this programming into Texas communities. In return, they receive the satisfaction of knowing they are helping their fellow Texans lead more productive lives. To find out more about volunteer opportunities in communities throughout Texas, visit http://tce.tamu.edu/volun.html or call any Extension office.
State Gems
‘Knock Out’ Rose Named Texas Superstar
New Disease Lab Helps Protect Texas Poultry Industry A new 3,200-square-foot Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory Poultry Disease Lab opened in February in Shelby County, where poultry constitutes a $160 million annual industry. Equipped with features such as negative air pressure examination rooms and advanced filtration systems, the $300,000 regional lab will serve as a distribution point and screening facility to monitor disease situations, give objective solutions, and enable growers to ship poultry anywhere in the world.
Extension Specialist Appointed to Urban U.S. Forestry Council Melanie Kirk, Texas Cooperative Extension urban and community forestry program specialist, has been appointed by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman to USDA’s National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council. The council advises the secretary on the care and management of trees, forests and related natural resources in urban and community settings throughout the nation. In addition, the council makes recommendations to the USDA Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry Program on competitive cost-share grants to advance the science and practice of urban forestry.
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Something to Crow About
50 years of teaching excellence By Diane Bowen
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Photos: Jim Lyle
welve raw eggs broken onto 12 white plastic plates are lined up on a long, narrow table in a Texas A&M University poultry laboratory, awaiting judgment. To the untrained eye, the eggs are identical—a dozen indistinguishable yolks each encircled by equally interchangeable whites. The door to the lab opens and in come 10 or 12 students, who begin eyeing the eggs appraisingly. Pen and paper in hand, the students inspect every egg, some of them squatting to peer at the eggs from the side, some glancing at a chart on a nearby wall for comparison. The students are looking for subtle indicators of quality— how tall the yolk and albumen stand, how jagged the white’s edges are, and how far it spreads out from the yolk. Each student rates the eggs on a scale from 1 to 9, benchmarking them against USDA and poultry industry standards. After each examination, the student scribbles a number on a slip of paper and moves to the next one. Twenty-two minutes later, all done, the students step back to watch, listen and sometimes argue, as their professor, Dr. Willie Krueger, walks along the table evaluating the eggs. “Egg No. 1, I’m going to call a 7,” Krueger announces. The students check their sheets for their own ratings, some murmuring assent. An assistant positions a Haugh Unit Meter—a protractor-looking instrument—over the yolk and reads out the actual measurement: Yes, it’s a 7. The next egg, Krueger pronounces a 5, and when the meter confirms it, scattered applause erupts from the students whose ranking matched his. The next egg is a close call, with some thinking it’s a 2 but Krueger and others arguing 3. He gives credit for both ratings. Down the line Krueger goes, assessing each egg and prodding the students to agree or disagree with his rating. At egg 7, a student challenges Krueger’s rating of 6. “I was leaning more toward 7, Doc,” the student says. Dr. Willie Krueger (left) uses a Haugh Unit Meter to measure the quality of an egg. ABOVE: (from left) A student candles an egg to grade it; live chickens are also assessed in Krueger’s poultry lab sessions; and Krueger and student Jessica Butler examine a chicken carcass.
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“I still think it’s a 6,” Krueger counters. “How many think it’s a 6?” Five hands go up. This time, Krueger won’t bend. It’s a 6.
“He’s an awesome, awesome coach. Honestly, he is the best thing that ever happened to any of us.” Scenes like this play out most every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday of the spring and fall semesters at Texas A&M, as Krueger spends much of the afternoons and early evenings teaching students the finer points of poultry judging. He shows his charges how to distinguish the subtle differences among poultry and poultry products—intact eggs, broken-out eggs, live chickens and chicken carcasses. Krueger wants the students to learn more than what constitutes a Grade AA, Grade A, Grade B or Reject egg. He hopes they also gain confidence and learn to make good decisions and, especially, to defend those decisions well. He continually calls for their assessments and encourages debate. “I want them to argue with me,” Krueger says. “If I can get my students to argue with me, that leads to discussion.” “He loves to argue,” says Christine Grabouski, a senior poultry science major. “If you don’t question and you don’t contradict him, he’s going to be upset with you. He loves students that’ll go up to him and say, ‘Doc, you’re wrong.’ He loves it.” Krueger has been inciting dissent among Aggies for decades. Last year he marked 50 years of teaching poultry science at Texas A&M, having started work at the university in 1953— before many of his students’ parents were born. For the past 20 years, he has also served as the coach of the school’s poultry judging team. Under Krueger’s tutelage, the team has been at or near the top of the collegiate pecking order almost every semester, winning 17 national championships and finishing second nine times.
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But Krueger and his teams haven’t always enjoyed rousing success. In his first semester as coach, the team placed 15th out of 17 universities. “That was shocking,” Krueger remembers. “That was eyeopening. I’m a Type A personality. I like to win. I hate to be second at anything.” The pain of losing was magnified by the response of his peers to the then 63-year-old rookie’s debut. “They laughed at me,” Krueger says. “They made fun of me—‘That old man thinks he can coach.’ “I told my team that we lost because of bad coaching. I taught them the wrong things.” Krueger adapted his lessons, and the team improved the next semester. But Texas A&M still placed a disappointing 13th. “They laughed at me again,” Krueger recalls. The third semester, the team took seventh place, and “they didn’t laugh as much,” he says. “I told them, ‘You’re going to regret the day that I started coaching.’” Sure enough, his next team won the national championship, and Krueger has since enjoyed 16 more last laughs. “Now they ask me when I’m going to quit,” he crows. Nowadays some of Krueger’s fellow coaches across the nation say they consider him the “elder statesman” of poultry judging. “He’s my fiercest competition,” says Dr. Timothy Chamblee, a poultry judging coach and associate professor of poultry science at Mississippi State University. “He’s an excellent coach. Everyone respects him. Everybody’s shooting for him because they know he’s the one to beat.” Says Dr. Jason Emmert of the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science at the University of Arkansas, “His team has been so competitive and so successful, I would look to him as the guru of poultry-judging, at least on the collegiate level.”
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Preparing for the judging competitions offers students hands-on experience with the birds, and it sharpens their senses as well. “You’d be amazed at how well you can tell a lot of details by touch and by sight,” says junior Stacy Christian, a former member of the team. “You develop a lot of abilities that you never realized you had before.” The students also gain confidence that will stand them in good stead after they graduate. “Many of our students have never excelled at anything,” Krueger says. “They really don’t know the fun of succeeding at something. “I love to take a group of students and bring them along. Take them to a national competition and get them up to a level where they win. And see their faces shine when they see those trophies. Just push them as hard as you can push them, and see them win.” Four times their age, Krueger enjoys a special rapport with his poultry-judging team members. “I love students,” he says. “Even at 82 years old, I love to be around them. “I hate old people. They complain about their illnesses and their troubles and how hard they work,” says Krueger, who has had six surgeries. “That irritates me.” Some students are surprised by the camaraderie they share with Krueger. “You would think that an 82-year-old would be pretty boring,” Grabouski says, “But he’s hilarious. He’ll crack jokes with the best of them.” AT TOP: (from left) Krueger discusses the merits of a live chicken with students Bradley Martin, Jessica Butler and Ross Windam; the Texas A&M poultry program boasts a long history of championship judging teams; student Stacy Christian eyes a broken-out egg to rate its quality; and the color of a hen’s shanks indicates her egg-laying history. ABOVE: Krueger and 1950s-era Aggie students examine chicks.
Texas A&M Lifescapes
One Spirit One Vision One Voice Fuchs Gives in Thanks for Life’s Blessings
Monroe Fuchs (second from right) with his children (left to right) Terry Adcox ’90, Laurie Robinson ’92, Gary Fuchs ’78 and Janet Crouch.
On trips to nationals, “every team tries to get something over on him,” says Jason Lee, a former poultry-judging team member and current assistant lecturer in the department. On one infamous trip, a team told him that they were choosing the restaurant for lunch. They took him to Hooter’s, a restaurant famous for its chicken wings and buxom waitresses. “He didn’t know what Hooter’s was,” Lee says. In addition to their affection for him, the student judges also respect Krueger immensely, value his expertise and appreciate the many hours he devotes to the team each semester. “He’s an awesome, awesome coach,” Grabouski says, echoing the words of several other team members. “Honestly, he is the best thing that ever happened to any of us. He spends a lot of time with you individually. He will work you as hard and as long as it takes to get you where you want to be. He will stay as long as you need him to.” Grabouski plans to teach agriculture and coach judging teams at the high school level. “He’s probably what I want to be like when I’m a teacher,” she says. “I want to hold my team to the standards he held us to, which are extremely high.” Although he’s long past most people’s retirement age, Krueger keeps a busy schedule. Besides teaching the judging class and coaching the team, he teaches two other courses each semester. “He works like a 20-year-old,” says Cheyenne Campbell, a senior and national champion judging team member. “He’s in every morning at 8, and three days a week he works until at least 7 or 7:30.” Back at the poultry lab with his students, Krueger is wrapping up his assessments of the broken-out eggs. Having had one after another of his ratings confirmed by the meter, Krueger looks up with a smile at the students gathered around the room. “You folks realize, I’m just pretty good, huh?” he teases. No one argues.
Web site: http://gallus.tamu.edu/
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Monroe Fuchs, chairman of Ideal Poultry Breeding Farms Inc. in Cameron, is the country’s largest supplier of non-commercial poultry, selling more than 4 million birds each year. The company has perhaps the largest chicken gene pool in the world, featuring more than 200 varieties. A long-time supporter of poultry science at Texas A&M, Fuchs and his family have given more than $250,000 in endowed scholarships and other gifts to the university and provided countless chickens for poultry research and judging teams. Fuchs ’56 has two degrees in poultry science from Texas A&M, and three of his four children also are Aggie grads. He recently took a moment to answer a few questions. Q. Why did you choose to study poultry science at Texas A&M? A. I grew up in the poultry business; Ideal Poultry was started in 1937 by my dad, Leo, and his brother, Theo. Before I went to school, I would go with my dad to work at the poultry farm. By the time I began high school, I already had started a small broiler business, selling to local groceries. Q. Three of your four children followed you to Texas A&M, and three of them also joined the family business. To what do you attribute this? A. Attitude in life is the most important thing. I have always enjoyed the poultry business and been excited about work and life. I have shared this joy and enthusiasm with my children and grandchildren. I believe in giving children the opportunity to work and to accomplish. For example, each grandchild has a first business opportunity at age 4, selling Easter chicks, ducks and geese. At an early age, they learn how to meet the public and how to earn money. This teaches responsibility and organization. Q. What motivates your giving to Texas A&M? A. I believe when you have received a blessing, you need to return a blessing. When you have benefited from a program, you need to support the program. We have had a wonderful relationship with the poultry science department, and if we can help them, we will do so. Q. What do you consider your biggest accomplishment since college? A. My biggest accomplishment was to understand how the Lord has blessed me, so that I could be a blessing to others—first, by providing my children with a solid business opportunity. Second, I was called into jail and prison ministry for the past 13 years, where I have seen the lives of many inmates changed.
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Do Well, Be Well
Extension helps hundreds learn to manage their diabetes by Linda Anderson
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hen Cecil McCormick of Hawley was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes about nine years ago, he tried to argue his way out of it. “I told them, naw, it was just because I’d been eating a lot of sweets,” he says. “The nurse told me to get over there and take the [blood] test.” Anita Montoya of El Paso had a completely different reaction when she got her diagnosis. “I panicked,” she says. “I was scared to death because I was a cancer survivor” and had already faced one life-threatening disease. Karla Daugherty of Weatherford wasn’t surprised with her diagnosis but was concerned about the outcome. “My husband’s grandmother had type 2 diabetes. I watched for three months while she had her foot amputated and then her leg,” she says. “While she was going through this, I had an idea I had diabetes. When they told me I did, it upset me because I didn’t want to go through what she went through. She never could control hers. I was very upset. I thought my world had ended.” But she, as well as McCormick, Montoya and hundreds of their peers from across the state, learned the situation does not have to be that dire. What they found instead was the Do Well, Be Well with Diabetes program offered by Texas Cooperative Extension. The program is a comprehensive, easy-to-follow, educational series on how to live with diabetes, and live well, says Dr. Carol Rice, Extension health specialist and one of the cofounders of the program. Now in its second year, Do Well, Be Well is offered in 100 counties, with plans to have it available in as many of the state’s 254 counties as possible, says Courtney Schoessow, Extension family and consumer sciences associate. As of April, almost 1,200 participants—both people with diabetes and their loved ones—had registered for the program. The idea behind Do Well, Be Well is simple: A growing number of Americans are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (formerly called adult-onset diabetes). And many of them are left in the dark as to how to live with this common—yet manageable—chronic disease. They need information and education delivered in a way that’s easy to understand.
Texas A&M Lifescapes
Photos: Jerrold Summerlin
“Do Well, Be Well with Diabetes is clearly needed, since 72 • Work with their health-care providers on the best ways to percent of our participants say this is their first diabetes educontrol their own disease. cation, even though 71 percent report having diabetes between Erin Chambers, a dietitian with Scott and White in College two and five years!” Rice says. Station, is one of those health-care providers. She is one of the The problem for McCormick wasn’t getting the diagnosis or professionals called on by Alma Fonseca, Extension agent for accepting it, says his wife Lucille. It was lack of information. family and consumer sciences, for the Do Well, Be Well pro“We had not really had too much education on diabetes,” she gram in Brazos County. says. “We had been to one counselor and she gave us a menu So far, about 110 plan.” Brazos County resiBeverly Farnsworth of Abilene had the same kind of expedents have comrience when she was diagnosed about six years ago. pleted the “I was in the hospital for knee course, surgery,” she says. “That’s when Chambers says. they told me I had it. But they “The people didn’t tell me much else.” I’ve talked to Others have echoed those words. said it’s a good “When you’re diagnosed, they comprehensive don’t tell you anything,” Daugherty course. It kind of says. “They give you a book. I did a clears up a lot of questions they’ve lot of research on my own and had.” everything contradicted itself. It Diabetes is a totally manageable was very confusing.” disease, she says. The Extension agents who offer “The most important thing is makthe Do Well, Be Well program in ing lasting lifestyle changes you can their home counties hope to remefollow.” dy that situation. And some of The Do Well, Be Well program them are surprised at the response. tries to make the disease and its Kathy Smith, Extension agent management as understandable as for family and consumer sciences possible, because behavior change is in Parker County, conducted the a gradual process. classes Daugherty attended last “Usually diabetes education profall. About 50 people with diabetes grams cram everything in there and and their family members signed the patients are overwhelmed. It’s up for those classes, she says, and easier to absorb in smaller doses, Lucy Brown of Parker County took the Do Well, Be Well classes and 50 more went on a waiting list. learned that living with her diabetes isn't as difficult as she thought especially the advice about nutri“I really didn’t expect to have that it would be. tion,” she says. many who were interested,” she “It was such a wonderful opportusays. But, because the response was so great, she plans to offer nity to work together to educate the public on diabetes manthe classes again in the fall, and then make it at least an annuagement. Lesson plans are provided by Extension, complete al event. with all kinds of different ideas to help people learn by doing Too many people get very little information about living rather than sitting through a lecture.” with diabetes when they are diagnosed, she says. Do Well, Be A goal of the program is to empower individuals to manage Well gives them that information. the disease themselves. Lucy Brown also attended Smith’s classes. Those who have been diagnosed with diabetes agree. “I had been kind of borderline diabetic for a year and a half “This is not the end of the world,” Daugherty says. “You to two years,” she says. “I didn’t get real serious [about it] until have to change some things, check your blood-sugar levels.” about a year ago, and I decided to take it seriously because it’s “You can learn to control it,” Montoya says. “You don’t have a matter of life and death.” to die.” Through the classes, she learned that living with diabetes For the newly diagnosed, Brown offers this advice: Find a isn’t as difficult as she thought it would be. mentor who has been diabetic for a while and has taken class“I learned to not take the disease for granted and think we es. Then take the classes yourself. can do anything we want,” she says. But above all, “just know you are not alone,” Brown says. Students from across the state said they learned to: “You can always find support when you have a bad day.” • Read food labels for nutrition information and measure “It’s a fantastic course,” Brown says. “Everybody should go, portions; even if you’re not diabetic.” • Track carbohydrate consumption and prepare healthy recipes; Web site • Check their feet for signs of circulation problems; http://fcs.tamu.edu/health/type_2_diabetes/what_is_diabetes.htm • Exercise each day; • Monitor blood sugar levels; and
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Abriendo Puertas
Hispanic parents ‘opening doors’ to college for their children By Rod Santa Ana III
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Photos: Jerrold Summerlin
f a Dickens-like tale of two cities exists in the Lone Star State, it can arguably be found at its southernmost tip, the four-county area known as the Lower Rio Grande Valley. In the mid-1700s, when Spanish settler Jose de Escandon brought 6,000 pioneers from Mexico City to carve out new settlements among the rugged alluvial plains along the Rio Grande, he probably never dreamed of the thriving metropolis his venture would create 250 years later. With time and hard work, his primitive settlements evolved into large cattle ranches. Those gave way to lucrative agricultural fields that, today, are turning into modern America. One of the fastest-growing areas in the nation, the Valley is filling up with subdivisions, freeways, industry, shopping malls, schools, parks and people—lots of people, mostly young, Hispanic and uneducated. It’s among the Valley’s people where the dichotomy lies. Many are cashing in on the area’s explosive growth—chatting on cell phones, driving new SUVs and building their dreams in gated communities.
But too many are living beyond the shiny, new and hopeful. In third-world-like colonias, run-down barrios and dirt-road neighborhoods, a grinding and seemingly relentless poverty belies the booming progress, robbing thousands of their dignity, promise and hope.
“I am proud to be a part of Abriendo Puertas because it allows me to help others who are less fortunate.” —Carmen DeLeon, parent volunteer “This is the United States of America,” says Hector Aldape. “It shouldn’t be this way, it doesn’t have to be this way. But there it is, just look at the numbers.” Aldape is one of three Texas A&M University representatives whose offices are in the heart of the Rio Grande Valley, in Weslaco, at The Texas A&M University System Agricultural Research and Extension Center.
OPPOSITE: Carmen DeLeon (left) helps her two daughters Brenda (standing) and Maria with their homework. The family lives in Weslaco in the Rio Grande Valley. ABOVE: Former Extension educator Dr. Ida Acuña-Garza (right) welcomes a group of parents to an Abriendo Puertas session.
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Aldape, who does recruitment and community development for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, heads up Abriendo Puertas, or Opening Doors, an innovative program that trains parents, and, through them, their children, about higher education. His counterparts, Rick Margo and Joel Solis with the Office of Admission and Records, recruit students from the Valley for Texas A&M, but Margo works through the more traditional approaches of college nights and high school counselors. Both are passionate about their work and good at what they do. But both face the daily realization that they are pushing against the staggering, often disheartening numbers that define the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Aldape can rattle them off by heart. “The 2000 census: four counties, 1 million people, fastestgrowing region in the state, 87 percent Hispanic, 60 percent under 35 years of age, 40 percent under age 19, some 30 percent of households in poverty and almost 20 percent of households with annual incomes less than $10,000.” The education numbers he cites are daunting. “Half of the people here don’t have a high school diploma, and about half of our ninth-graders will not complete the 12th grade. Only 13 percent have a college degree.” It gets worse. “A national trend,” he explains, “shows that, over the last several decades, minority parents are participating less in their children’s education, while non-Hispanic whites are having more contact with their kids’ schools.” Unwelcoming school environments, Aldape says, keep Hispanic parents away, fostering the perception that they no longer have a responsibility for their children’s education, especially their college education. “How can low-income, low-education, disconnected parents possibly know about the college admissions process?” asks Aldape. “They can’t. It’s not that poor people don’t love their kids. Of course they do, and they want the best for them, like we all do. But they need to know about college before they can teach their kids about college. That’s why our program was born, and it’s what we’ve been doing for almost a year.” In that year, Abriendo Puertas is expected to reach 4,500
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families, an outreach made possible by the productive partnerships Aldape attracted with his progressive ideas. Once a “corporate man” with an MBA, Aldape abandoned the business world to make a difference in his community, to pursue his dreams of improving the dismal education rates of his fellow Hispanics in South Texas. “My kids were grown and gone,” he says. “I looked around and said, ‘My God, look at the poverty here.’ I decided I wanted to make a difference, to give back, to help get kids educated and out of poverty.” His goals were the perfect match for the visions of Texas A&M’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “I discussed my ideas with Dr. C. R. Creger [the college’s associate vice chancellor and associate dean] and Edward Romero [the assistant dean], and we realized that we shared the same dreams of increasing the education rate of Hispanics in Texas. With projections that by 2040 almost 67 percent of the Texas college-age population will be Hispanic, educating Hispanics means educating Texas. We all agreed we had a lot of work to do.” Aldape immediately formed what he called the College Coalition, bringing together college administrators with similar passions from throughout the Rio Grande Valley. That effort attracted many interested parties, including Dr. Ida H. AcuñaGarza, who would become a key player in Abriendo Puertas. Acuña-Garza had retired in late 2003 after serving Hidalgo County for 30 years as a Texas Cooperative Extension family and consumer sciences educator. But she was so enamored of Aldape’s ideas, she came out of retirement to help. As program specialist, Acuña-Garza had many community contacts and much expertise in developing educational curricula. But she also had a highly successful peer-education model she developed in 1991 to teach low-income Valley residents the art of sewing for personal clothing and profit. ABOVE: (left to right) Nelida Campos of Edinburg is a parent volunteer; Maria Guerrero of Pharr leads a session aimed at showing parents how to help their kids get into college; Odilia Rios of Edinburg shares a success story; volunteers Felicitas Perez and Adriana Marrero, both of Edinburg, assist Ida Acuña-Garza with a presentation; and Texas A&M recruiter, Hector Adalpe, who helped establish Abriendo Puertas, speaks to community leaders.
Texas A&M Lifescapes
Her Master Clothing Volunteer program provided 30 hours of training to master volunteers who commit to training 15 others how to sew. Each, in turn, taught 15 others, and the numbers of low-income residents who were taught to sew grew exponentially over the years. Following this same model, classes for the Abriendo Puertas parent volunteers are taught in small-group settings in homes, community centers and elsewhere. The curriculum is bilingual, simple, concise and culturally relevant. “We start with parenting skills,” Acuña-Garza says, “to help parents understand the different stages of life their kids are going through. That helps communication. Then we get into dreams and visions, career choices, getting organized and involved in the child’s public school. Then we move on to how to apply for college, financial aid, room and board, the works.” Aldape says results of the training sometimes make him emotional. “You can almost see a light go off in the parents’ heads,” he says. “And they tell us, ‘I wish I’d learned this years ago. Maybe I would have gone to college. But at least now I can teach my kids.’ That’s what this program is all about. I’m convinced that all it takes to get more kids into college is for someone to show the parents the way.” Last January, the program recognized its first 50 graduates. Corporate sponsors, community leaders, and relatives packed an Edinburg chamber where Creger presented each graduate with a certificate and a handshake. “In 2020, about 16 years from now,” Creger said, “Hispanics will be the majority. That means that your kids are going to have to run this place, and they’re going to have to know how to do it. They’ll be the state representatives, senators, lawyers, doctors, and it takes an education to do that. “I guarantee you that the ones who hang in there are going to make it. And they’re going to be very, very successful.” Some of the first graduates had praise for the new program. “I learned so much,” says Cristina Alaniz of Mission. “I am very involved in my son’s school, but this program has validated that I am doing the right thing. I learned that I have to do more to help my child succeed. No one ever talks to us
Summer 2004
about how to help our kids once they are out of elementary. Parents participate less, but we should stay even more involved. Thank you for bringing this program to us.” Another, Elizabeth Yzaguirre of Edinburg, says, “I got the help I needed to help my daughter attend college. She graduated from high school last year, but she didn’t have a Social Security number, so she couldn’t take the tests required for college entrance. So when Abriendo Puertas took us on a tour of the university, we found an office that could help my daughter. Together we worked out a solution and she will begin her college career in August. What a blessing!” Maria Guerrero of Pharr says Abriendo Puertas provided her with the information to help a neighbor, a non-citizen, make arrangements to attend the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg. “They even helped her with a $1,000 scholarship. Thank God. I hope to keep helping everybody I can. The doors are really opening so we can help and improve ourselves.” The future of Abriendo Puertas looks promising. Working with the Texas Education Agency’s regional service center, the program will train 300 parent volunteers. TEA, in collaboration with Texas A&M-Kingsville, the University of Texas at Brownsville, the University of Texas-Pan American, Texas State Technical College, and Texas Cooperative Extension, will help Abriendo Puertas expand to the South Texas counties of Cameron, Starr and Willacy and to Corpus Christi this fall. Depending on funding, Aldape says, Abriendo Puertas will establish programs in major metropolitan and rural areas of the state by 2005. “We’ll continue building partnerships so that Abriendo Puertas can help establish a parental support system that helps students all the way through to college completion, ensuring their educational and economic future.”
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S
‘Together We Can’
Ed Hiler retires after 12 years as vice chancellor by Ellen Ritter
itting at the big conference table in his office, surrounded by books on leadership, pictures of the grandkids, and mementos of his career at Texas A&M, Ed Hiler laughs when he recounts the first time he used the phrase, “together we can.” “It was in the speech I gave at the Agriculture Program Conference in 1993,” he says. “I remember because the next day I flew down to Weslaco with Jose Amador for a meeting with the faculty at the Center and was sure surprised when I walked into the room to see those words up on a big banner.” Amador, who is director at The Texas A&M University System Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Weslaco, had called ahead to his secretary and asked her to make the paper banner. In hindsight, she probably could have painted the words permanently on the wall, since “together we can” would become Ed Hiler’s mantra as vice chancellor. When Hiler was appointed vice chancellor for agriculture and life sciences in 1992, the Agriculture Program was just three years old. In 1989, the Texas A&M Board of Regents had realigned the administration of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and five statewide agricultural and natural resource agencies under a single vice chancellor to form the Agriculture Program. “The program always had great strengths,” Hiler said, “but it needed more coordination among the parts for greater effectiveness in serving Texas, and to coalesce around a vision to move to the next level.” In many respects, Hiler spent the first 25 years of his career preparing to meet this challenge. A native of Harrison, Ohio, Hiler grew up on a dairy farm. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agricultural engineering from The Ohio State University in 1963. After earning his doctorate there in 1966, Hiler and his wife Pat made their first trip west of the Mississippi to join the department of agricultural engineering at Texas A&M. Of the trip to Texas, Hiler says, “We were just happy to see trees. We thought Texas would look more like ‘Marlboro Country.’” Hiler built his academic credentials in water and irrigation research and worked his way through the academic ranks to full professor by 1973. In 1974, he became department head and served in that role through 1988.
Texas A&M Lifescapes
He credits his service as department head with preparing him for later administrative roles. “You learn a lot about what will work and what won’t. You gain experience in leading people, confidence in doing that. You work on many things that are beyond your areas of expertise, across disciplines.” Hiler’s first experience with the A&M System and its multiple universities came in 1989 when he served as deputy chancellor for academic and research programs. His responsibilities there included strategic planning, joint academic programs and intrasystem initiatives, and federal research enhancement. When the vice chancellor position became available, the Board of Regents selected Hiler to lead the Agriculture Program. “He had worked in the water field which is so important in Texas, was an expert in legislative matters and had the personality to gain support,” says Chancellor Emeritus Perry Adkisson, who had chaired the search committee. “For the university to advance to the highest level, we also had to have national recognition,” Adkisson says. In 1987, Hiler had been elected to the prestigious National Academy of Engineering. “With the National Academy appointment, Ed had attained the highest level of recognition an engineer can receive.” With this academic and administrative background, Hiler would move the Agriculture Program to new levels of efficiency, outreach, and achievement over his 12-year term. Hiler tirelessly promoted the “together we can” theme to enhance internal coordination and cooperation between the college and the agencies for greater effectiveness. He increased joint faculty appointments among agencies and encouraged joint leadership of regional research and Extension centers by both Extension and Experiment Station administrators at those locations. One of Hiler’s clear priorities was getting system components to work better together, says Dr. Tim Davis, resident director at The Texas A&M University System Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Dallas. “At the Dallas Center, we have tried to follow his lead in ensuring that our research and extension efforts are harmonized as much as possible,” Davis says. “While we certainly aren’t perfect, we have come a long way in the past 10 years or so.” In fact, Hiler saw the need to extend cooperation even further, to all A&M System universities with agricultural colleges or departments. He worked to establish a Council of Agriculture Administrators among the six A&M System universities. It was formed in 1994, with Charles DeYoung, former dean of the College of Agriculture and Human Sciences at Texas A&MKingsville, as chair. ABOVE TOP: Ed Hiler, joined by his wife Pat, receives his master’s degree in agricultural engineering at The Ohio State University in 1963. BOTTOM: Hiler says his greatest joy has been in working with students. Here he shares a laugh with a group of students, c. 1980s.
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“Without Ed’s leadership, this wouldn’t have happened,” says Dr. Jim Clark, the council’s current chair and dean of the College of Agriculture, Nursing and Natural Sciences at West Texas A&M University. “He personally visited with each system university president to get their buy-in.” As a result, joint faculty and administrative appointments among A&M System universities, joint distance education courses, and joint degree programs were increased, creating more educational opportunities for students across the state. There’s also a lot more cooperative research under way with better coordination of programs and more leveraging of resources, Clark says.
“He was very supportive of having the A&M-Kingsville Citrus Center and the A&M Agricultural Research and Extension Center be administered by one director,” Amador says. “It was part of bringing together system schools that used to be competing.” For Ed Hiler, “together we can” also extended beyond the A&M System to all the external stakeholder groups tied to agriculture, such as commodity groups, government, environmental organizations, consumers, industry, scientific and academic communities, among others.
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There was a perception that A&M agriculture had ‘lost touch’ with the needs and interests of these groups, even as the university trained students for their work forces and engaged in research and outreach for their audiences. The effort to change that perception began with the first Texas Agricultural and Natural Resources Summit, held at Texas A&M in 1993.
“His hallmark as a leader is his desire to seek audiences with all involved, to get everybody’s ideas and then make a decision.” “That was a tremendous meeting with representatives of the full array of agriculture and natural resources industry and interest groups,” says Gene Nelson, professor of agricultural economics at Texas A&M, who served as co-chair of the meeting. “We heard from top leaders, and we worked in small groups to identify issues facing us in the years ahead and then worked on ways to address them.” The Summit process was directed by an executive committee of the state’s agricultural leadership chaired for the first two years by long-time banker John Anderson of Plainview, who is now the city’s mayor. “Without a doubt, this was a way we were able to bring academia and industry back together, and span a gap that had been growing wider,” Anderson says. Had it not been for Hiler, the Summit process would never have existed, he adds. “He was dedicated to doing what was best for Texas agriculture, and he believed in the Summit process and was determined to make it work.” In the following years, 13 Summits were held on vital issues affecting agriculture, including food safety, biotechnology, water, and most recently, agricultural biosecurity. When Hiler initiated a year-long visioning effort, Agriculture Program 21, he also sought the input of external leaders. While faculty studied changes under way in science, technology and society, a panel of 50 distinguished experts projected future scenarios and the needs of the students, clientele, and citizens the Agriculture Program serves. Drawing from both those internal and external discussions, an ambitious agenda of 11 goals for the next 10 to 20 years was identified. These goals, along with those established by Texas A&M University through Vision 2020, have formed the Agriculture Program vision and strategic plan in effect today. “Ed clearly has done a good job balancing traditional agriculture with areas of emerging growth and change,” says Norman Scott, former vice president for research at Cornell University, and, like Hiler, a former president of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers. “He brought people in from outside industry and professions into the strategic planning process for both ASAE and for A&M—and it worked.” In his years as vice chancellor, Ed Hiler has served as a leader of a large and diverse organization. He’s also acted on the belief that there is a leadership role for everyone and that the best leadership is, in fact, service.
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He reads books about leadership regularly and is fond of quoting his favorites, from Jack Welch, former head of General Electric, to Max DuPree, author of Leadership is an Art and Jim Collins’ Good to Great. Early in his tenure, Hiler established a leadership team of top agency administrators who met together on Monday mornings to discuss problems, settle issues, and make decisions. “He took it very seriously and was a leader of leaders,” says Chester Fehlis, associate vice chancellor and director of Texas Cooperative Extension. “His leadership retreats with administrators of the colleges and agencies went a long way to gel that group, to help us achieve a level of trust.” “His hallmark as a leader is his desire to seek audiences with all involved, to get everybody’s ideas and then make a decision,” says Dick Creger, who is associate vice chancellor and associate dean of the College. If leadership is Ed Hiler’s passion, then undergraduate and graduate education is his first love. As a professor and longtime department head, he spent most of his career working with students. “He’s done so much for the students,” Creger says. “He’s been forceful in promoting the Congressional Internship Program, greatly expanded participation of undergraduate students in international programs, and has been a strong supporter of leadership programs for students.” “My greatest joy has been working with students,” Hiler says. “Missing interactions with them, especially students who come back and visit with you and thank you, is going to be hard.” But Hiler has more work to complete before he can miss anything about being vice chancellor. “Getting the new nutrition and food science department approved and under way is foremost on my agenda. Then we need to recruit outstanding people for some of the 46 new faculty positions we’ll get over the next four years as part of A&M’s faculty reinvestment plan,“ he says. “I’m also excited that by the fall the new joint enrollment program with Texas A&M-Commerce, similar to the one we have with A&M-Kingsville, will be in place.” Although he has not announced any plans for retirement beyond spending more time with his wife Pat and their nine grandchildren, Hiler says he’ll try to remain active. “I have an aspiration to write a book on leadership in the public sector, since nearly all of them have been written from a private industry standpoint,” he says. Perhaps it should be titled, Together We Can.
Texas A&M Lifescapes
Four years of research shows that combining nitrogen fertilizer with poultry litter is effective in reducing soil phosphorus buildup and potential environmental problems. Water quality is the focus of the study by Experiment Station forage researcher Dr. Gerald Evers. Texas poultry operations produce about 600,000 tons of poultry litter each year. This litter has several advantages over commercial nitrogen fertilizer because it contains organic matter, increasing the soil’s ability to hold water and nutrients. The nitrogen is released slowly and is less likely to leach into groundwater. The disadvantage is that, in fields fertilized with animal manure, excess phosphorus runs off into streams, ponds and lakes during heavy rainfall. The phosphorus isn’t toxic in itself, but, because it is a plant nutrient, it can cause runaway aquatic plant growth that can clog waterways, depleting oxygen levels and causing fish deaths. Problems arise from using litter as the only nutrient source. Heavy applications year after year, eventually result in high levels of phosphorus in the soil. Evers’ research provides a blueprint for using poultry litter over long periods without endangering Texas water. Evers compared several treatments using combinations of poultry litter and commercial nitrogen fertilizer. The extra nitrogen in the commercial fertilizer increases plant growth, which takes up some of the excess phosphorus. All the treatments with commercial nitrogen added to poultry litter showed a reduction of 25 percent to 50 percent of the residual phosphorus in the top 6 inches of soil.
Mosquito Study Aims to Reduce Deadly Disease Texas A&M University researchers are studying the genes of the mosquito species Aedes aegypti, the carrier for both dengue and yellow fever, hoping to keep deadly mosquito-borne diseases at bay.
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Dr. Patricia Pietrantonio, Experiment Station entomologist, is leading a team studying the hormone-controlled mechanism by which mosquitoes excrete waste. Mosquitoes feed on animals and humans and need this blood meal to form eggs to reproduce. As the mosquitoes feed, they quickly begin excreting a clear liquid. If still engorged from feeding, they fly poorly and are susceptible to being slapped by humans or eaten by predators. Since hormones control this diuresis process, researchers are cloning mosquito genes and studying cell receptors to develop an insecticide to target the hormone receptor and disrupt the hormonal communication. The long-term research has potential applications for vectortransmitted diseases such as dengue fever, for which there are no vaccines. The mosquito transmits dengue viruses during the feeding process. According to Pietrantonio, knowing more about the mosquito’s weak points will help find new ways to control it. South Texas experienced its largest outbreak of dengue fever in nearly 20 years in October 1999, with more than 100 cases reported in Texas and Mexico.
Texas to Test Rapid Detection of Foreign Animal Disease Experimental technology that could rapidly detect foot-and-mouth disease is being tested in Texas as the result of an agreement between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine. The study is designed to evaluate the efficacy of new tests that would improve response time to a foreign animal disease, should one develop. Texas A&M researchers will use the new assays to test for classical swine fever in a population of disease-free animals. New, rapid tests that could be performed in the field would enable officials to quickly detect disease and stop massive spread. Currently, foot-and-mouth tests can be performed only at the U.S. Plum Island Animal Disease Center in New York, a high-security bio-containment facility. The usual method of confirming the disease takes up to a week, plus time for shipping the samples to Plum Island. The experimental testing procedures use
“real-time” technology to identify genetic material specific to the viruses that cause foot-and-mouth and classical swine fever. The tests can give results in less than an hour. No active foot-and-mouth virus will be used in Texas. Researchers will collect nasal and blood samples from more than 2,000 healthy cattle and swine for testing. Dr. Gary Adams, College of Veterinary Medicine associate dean for research and graduate studies, is collaborating on the project with Dr. Geoffrey Fosgate, assistant professor of veterinary anatomy and public health. The U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service funded the $750,000 study through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Scientists from ARS, the USDA-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and Texas A&M are collaborating.
Frontiers of Discovery
Additive to Poultry Litter Helps Protect Surface Water
A&M Grad Student Discovers Three New South American Fish Hernan Lopez-Fernandez, a doctoral student in Texas A&M University’s wildlife and fisheries science department, recently discovered three new fish species while studying museum samples gathered from South American rivers. The discovery of the species—Geophagus abalios, G. dicrozoster and G. winemilleri— was published in the journal Zootaxa with co-author Donald Taphorn of the University of the Llanos in Venezuela. Lopez-Fernandez named one of the species after Dr. Kirk O. Winemiller, Experiment Station ecology and evolution biologist, in recognition of his international research. Lopez-Fernandez made the discovery as part of his doctoral research on the evolutionary ecology of the feeding behavior of cichlid fishes in South America. The discovery is important as scientists worldwide try to piece together and maintain stable ecosystems.
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Outfoxing Rabies by Steve Byrns
A
squadron of state-chartered aircraft flies a series of “bombing” runs across South and West Texas each January. Flying at 500 feet, they drop millions of cubes the size of “fun-size” candy bars over 47 counties. They battle a deadly, unseen enemy, but the only human casualty is an occasional airsick passenger. For the past nine Januarys, the state has been fighting—and winning—the battle to prevent the spread of rabies into urban populations in South and West Texas. The program has been so successful that it has virtually eliminated the type of rabies spread by coyotes, which back in 1995 posed a serious public health threat to San Antonio. “Something had to be done and fast,” says Gary Nunley, director of Texas Cooperative Extension’s Wildlife Services unit, after rabid coyotes started cropping up in Atascosa County, just 45 miles from San Antonio. The greatest fear was that the canine strain of rabies that coyotes carry would jump to the huge, free-ranging dog population in and around San Antonio. “A buddy of mine is chief of animal control in San Antonio,” says Dr. James Wright, a Texas Department of Health veterinarian based in Tyler. “He indicated there are a jillion unvaccinated dogs roaming the streets of San Antonio. If canine rabies had reached Bexar County, we would literally have had rabid animals on playgrounds.” State health officials were anxious to avoid a repeat of a 1988 South Texas rabies outbreak that caused two deaths and 3,000 people to undergo rabies exposure treatments. Casting about for a solution, state officials focused on an imaginative idea that had proved successful with red fox rabies problems in Europe and Canada. Large animal populations could be inoculated against rabies by feeding them baits laced with vaccine. But only way to get the baits to animals ranging in some of the roughest country in Texas was to drop them from the air.
LEFT: Coyote OPPOSITE: During the “drop season” in January, baits are loaded onto planes for “bombing” runs over South and West Texas to immunize coyotes (above) and gray foxes (far right).
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Texas A&M Lifescapes
Photos: Texas Department of Health and stock images
Airdrop vaccine program checks spread of deadly disease
“That’s when we started the state’s Oral Rabies Vaccination Program,” Wright says. “Our first efforts were to make a barrier between where the rabid coyotes were and where they were not. Every year since then we’ve moved the barrier farther south and west until now we have completely saturated South Texas with the bait. Today, we just don’t see the coyote variant of the virus anymore because we’ve got everything down there vaccinated.” The coyote bait drops started in 1995. Gray fox baits were added the next year because a fox rabies epidemic was rapidly spreading across the Edwards Plateau. Results have been dramatic. The health department reports that, because of the program, the number of canine-strain rabies cases decreased from 122 in 1994 to zero by 2001. Gray fox variant rabies cases dropped from 244 in 1995 to 61 by 2003. Now the planes maintain a bait zone along the border to stop any possible canine rabies influx from Mexico. The gray fox bait zone varies from year to year across the Edwards Plateau. The plan is to encircle the gray fox rabies variant with baited buffer zones that will soon come together like a drawstring to protect the entire Texas Hill Country. The state health department is the vaccination program’s lead agency. It works in partnership with Extension Wildlife Services and the Texas National Guard. Tom Sidwa of Austin, director of the program, says the idea behind the drops is not to protect the health of foxes or coyotes, but to protect the health of people. “While this program addresses wildlife concerns, rabies control is not just one thing,” he says. “It’s a strategy that includes good stray-animal control programs and a major reliance on domestic-animal vaccines. “We still must have conscientious pet owners vaccinating their pets. If your dog or cat is unvaccinated and it encounters a rabid animal, you’re likely to be exposed.” “The drops are done in January when coyote and fox food sources are scarce,” Nunley says. “It’s also a good time of year
Summer 2004
because fire ants, which also like the baits, are usually less active. Zapata is the first drop location, followed by Junction and finally Fort Stockton.” The “drop season” starts long before the arrival of four specially equipped King Air planes chartered from a firm in Virginia. Sidwa first orders the baits from a vaccine manufacturer in Georgia; this is done early because there’s a lengthy process necessary to certify the vaccines’ potency. The logistics of setting up housing, fuel, airports and a host of other things that accompany any large field operation are addressed next. Sidwa says extensive preparation goes into locating the zones, drawing the computerized flight lines, and feeding this data into each plane’s computer. An automated program takes the planes to the bait-drop line and keeps them on it. Data downloaded from each plane every night tell Sidwa where the planes have been and what they’ve dropped. Everything is tracked. Bob Sims, district Extension Wildlife Services supervisor at Kerrville, and his crew load the bait on the planes at all three sites. Crews use a conveyor system to put the bait directly into each plane’s bin. These circular bins dispense the baits using accurate metering and counting mechanisms. Though 60 people may be involved at a given location, each plane’s flight crew is small. There’s a navigator (generally an Extension trapper, whose main job is to keep the bait from hitting people, roadways and structures), the bait disburser (usually a National Guard soldier who sees that the bait is feeding through the machinery properly) and the contract pilot. “Our biggest nemesis is the weather,” Sidwa says. “Visibility is a concern because we have to be able to see three miles in distance and 1,000 feet in altitude. The other thing is high winds. The planes fly only about 500 feet off the ground. It can be a pretty rough ride for the crews. “But if it’s possible and safe to fly, we’ve got to get the bait on the ground.” The baits themselves are 1 1/4 inches square by 3/4 inch thick. A plastic bag containing the vaccine is placed inside the
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Giving Matters
bait and sealed there with wax. Coyote bait is made of fish meal. Gray fox bait is made of dog food with molasses and vanilla flavoring added. While eating the bait, the animal bites into and ruptures the plastic bag, completing its vaccination. “To be effective, the vaccine must coat the animal’s tonsils,” Nunley says. The planes drop 70 baits per square mile in South Texas for coyotes and 100 baits per square mile in West-Central Texas for gray fox—about 2.7 million baits each year across roughly 31,000 square miles. Funding for the $4 million program comes from the State of Texas and U.S. Department of Agriculture. Imprinted on each bait is a warning and the toll-free phone number of the command center at each site. Though millions of baits have been dropped over thousands of acres during the program’s nine years, Nunley says, incidents have been few. “Once some folks pulled in a catfish with a bait in its mouth,” he recalls. “The bait had fallen into a stock tank, and the fish had picked it up. The fishermen called us using the number on the bait. Another time we accidentally hit a guy
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Swinbank Endows Rural Entrepreneurship Class Joe Swinbank ’74 attributes much of his success as a private venture capitalist to the business background he gained as an agricultural economics major at Texas A&M. Now he is helping other Aggies learn how to become entrepreneurs. The $100,000 Joe Swinbank ’74 Endowed Rural Entrepreneurship Seminar Series will help support the department of agricultural economics two-semester sequence of classes in rural entrepreneurship, in which students choose a business, develop a business plan and present that plan to a panel of bankers, investors and entrepreneurs to obtain funding. The endowment will offset expenses for student-interactive events such as lectures, luncheons and dinners with entrepreneurs, financiers and venture capitalists; travel for field studies of entrepreneurial ventures; and educational materials for the classes. Having served as a guest lecturer and panelist, Swinbank describes the class as relevant and practical. “I believe in the opportunity to own your own business and in helping young people start businesses,” he says. Swinbank’s own career serves as an inspiration for students. He has investments in eleven businesses in the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast area in fields
with a bait, but he wasn’t hurt and was a good sport about it.” Ground surveillance begins once the bait drop is over. Extension Wildlife Services trappers monitor animals taken in the course of routine predator control duties, taking blood samples to check the animals’ immunity levels. They also take samples of teeth, which are cross-sectioned and checked for the presence of tetracycline. The chemical is added to the vaccine and puts down layers that show up in the teeth. “Blood and teeth samples can determine if the animal picked up the bait and didn’t get immunized or picked up the bait and was immunized,” Nunley says. “The tests are very definitive, and a high percentage of the animals have been found to be immunized.” The health department reports no animal cases of canine or gray fox rabies outside of the original containment zones since the program began, and no human cases of rabies have occurred, either. Those involved with the program hope to duplicate their success by treating gray foxes on the Edwards Plateau. Baits are also being developed for rabies variants carried by skunks.
such as transportation, landfills, garbage, sand mining, tank leasing, breathing air and gas detection rental, heavy equipment rental and commercial real estate. Students interested in the department of agricultural economic’s rural entrepreneurship classes should contact Dr. M. Edward Rister, associate head of undergraduate programs, 979/845-3801, e-rister@tamu.edu.
Retiree’s Endowment Enhances Faculty Leadership Skills Although she left her job with Texas Cooperative Extension in 1998, Dr. Meatra D. Harrison has never retired from her desire to help others. In spring 2004, Extension officials honored Harrison and her continued dedication with a luncheon to celebrate the Meatra D. Harrison Extension Faculty Scholarship Fund. Each year, the fund supports several small grants that enable Extension faculty members to participate in selected educational experiences designed to enhance leadership, teaching or interpersonal skills. Each grant helps offset expenses for graduate classes, advanced workshops or special leadership experiences. While all Extension faculty are eligible to apply, preference is given to those working at the county level in the areas of family and consumer sciences, 4-H and youth, or agriculture
and natural resources. Harrison, who spent 40 years with Extension, established the fund upon her retirement with a $21,000 initial gift. The first scholarship from the fund, now valued at more than $75,000, was awarded in 1999.
Centerville Rancher Gives $250,000 for Scholarships For a man who laughingly describes himself as “dumb as a sack of rocks,” Richard Wallrath, owner of Champion Ranch in Centerville, has become a champion of higher education. He recently gave a $250,000 endowment to the Texas 4-H Youth Development Foundation to establish scholarships to further the educations of young Texans. 4-H is the youth development program of Texas Cooperative Extension. “I just feel we owe it to the kids to try to help with their educations,” Wallrath says. “A scholarship is something that just keeps on giving; it’s a way to get people off poverty and doing something with their lives.” Wallrath says he himself doesn’t “have any education, but, in today’s society, if you don’t have an education, you’re going to be lost.” Although he claims no formal schooling, Wallrath owns and operates a ranch that covers 4,000 acres and includes 2,500 head of Brangus, 25 miles of roads, and several private lakes.
Texas A&M Lifescapes
“We can see A&M’s future.” Ted and Dee Saba share a passion for helping students get a good education. Ted, a retired commercial and residential real estate broker, says what he learned at Texas A&M shaped his career— discipline in the Corps of Cadets and sound business sense from his pursuit of an agricultural administration degree. Since then he has always appreciated the Aggie bond that sustained him through military service and in each of the three communities he has called home. “Everywhere I’ve been, there has always been another Aggie around to help me out. I don’t think any other school’s student body has the same rapport.” The Sabas are so sold on the education A&M offers, they have made the Texas A&M Agriculture Program a part of their giving plans since 1989. Recently they donated charitable gift annuities to the department of agricultural economics to help develop teaching excellence programs. The Sabas can use the income now, enjoying tax savings and returns on their investment, and continue to support A&M programs long after their lifetimes. Ted and Dee Saba invite you to join them in continuing the legacy of educational excellence by supporting A&M’s One Spirit One Vision Campaign. Ted ’41 and Dee Saba TYLER
One Spirit One Vision Agriculture Program Campaign donors
What do you see in A&M’s future? For information on One Spirit One Vision giving opportunities in agriculture and life sciences, please contact the Agriculture Program Development Office at (979) 847-9314 or by e-mail at apdo@ag.tamu.edu.
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Inside this issue . . . Texas is one of the leading poultry and egg producers in the nation, and the poultry industry contributes nearly $2 billion to the state’s economy. Texas A&M’s department of poultry science is the largest in the country and annually graduates 50 students who serve the industry in various capacities. Many have had the benefit of learning from Dr. Willie Krueger, who has taught poultry science for 50 years. His profile is featured on page 16. One of his former students and a great friend of the poultry science department, poultry breeder Monroe Fuchs of Cameron, is introduced on page 19.