• By Adam Russell • Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists have declared war on the fall armyworm. Dr. Greg Sword, Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Entomology professor, has received $499,000 to determine fall armyworm behaviors and genomic traits that could aid in controlling the agricultural pests. The three-year project funded by the National Institute of ... Read More »
New Texas long-grain release offers stronger yield potential than Presidio • By Vicky Boyd, Editor • Texas A&M AgriLife Research is releasing Trinity, a new conventional long-grain rice variety with better first- and second-crop yield potential than Presidio — a previous Texas release that’s the most widely grown inbred in the state. Formerly known as RU1603178, Trinity was developed by ... Read More »
Change is inevitable, they say, and with the start of 2021 comes a number of shifts. Dr. Mo Way, who for 38 years has been at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research Center at Beaumont, will retire and ride into the sunset with wife Jeanie in February. The university already has posted a job notice for an assistant professor of rice ... Read More »
• By Kay Ledbetter • When it comes to “wild pig wars,” Dr. John Tomeček — Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service wildlife specialist in the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management — has been leading the charge in Texas. Now he’s been tapped to take his leadership skills to the national level as the chair-elect of the National Wild ... Read More »
Struggling families in a 21-county area served by the Central Texas Food Bank will have something to be thankful for this Christmas as the Western Rice Belt Conference Committee donated 11,000 pounds of rice. Committee members, who farm in an area served by Wharton, Matagorda and Colorado county offices of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, decided to make the donation ... Read More »
• By Dr. Mo Way, Kate Crumley and Dr. David Kerns • Just want to alert you rice farmers and crop consultants to be on the look out for the English grain aphid. As you probably know, aphids have piercing-sucking mouthparts, like a rice stink bug. But aphids suck up plant juices from the vascular phloem tissue of plants. They ... Read More »
A Texas A&M University graduate student received a research grant to better identify, understand and ultimately mitigate fall armyworm populations in Texas and the central United States. Ashley Tessnow, a doctoral candidate in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Horticultural Sciences, said armyworms have long been a pest that agriculture producers throughout the central United ... Read More »
• By Vicky Boyd, Editor • After the discovery of rice delphacid in an El Campo, Texas, greenhouse last winter and a possible sighting recently in Victoria County, a Texas A&M AgriLife Research entomologist has cautioned growers and consultants to be on the lookout for the pest. “My gut feeling is that they’re here to stay,” said Dr. Mo Way, ... Read More »
Texas wheat and rice producers could see opportunities as food grains show steadiness amid calamity for other commodities, said a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service economist. Dr. Mark Welch, AgriLife Extension economist, College Station, said food grains have avoided much of the “complete wreck” market disruptions have made of commodities like corn, cotton, beef and crude oil. As dairy operators ... Read More »
Whether you call them wild pigs or feral hogs, they are no longer just a rural problem, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service expert. Wild pigs cause more than $52 million in agricultural damage in Texas annually, said Dr. John Tomecek, AgriLife Extension wildlife specialist, Thrall. But it’s their encroachment into increasingly urbanized areas that is becoming a ... Read More »
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