LifescapesT E A C H I N G • R E S E A R C H • E X T E N S I O N • S E R V I C E

Winter 2006Texas A&M Agriculture

Aggies Riding to Win Aiding Hurricane VictimsBreeding Better Cottons

Vet Diagnostics Go Robotic

Aggies Riding to Win Aiding Hurricane VictimsBreeding Better Cottons

Vet Diagnostics Go Robotic

Lifescapes(ISSN 1539-1817)

is published three times a year by Texas A&M Agriculture.

Elsa A. MuranoVice Chancellor for Agriculture and Life Sciences

Texas A&M University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Texas Agricultural Experiment Station Texas Cooperative Extension

Texas Forest Service Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory

The Texas A&M University System

Published by

Agricultural Communications

Dave Mayes, Interim Head

Helen White, Editor

Ann Shurgin, 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) 458-0450 or e-mail agprogram@tamu.edu.

Visit our Web site at http://agprogram.tamu.edu

for more information about our teaching, research,extension, and service progams.

All programs and related activities of Texas A&MAgriculture are open to all persons,

regardless of race, color, age, sex, handicap, religion or national origin.

Copyright 2006 by Texas A&M Agriculture.

Written material may be reprinted provided noendorsement of a commercial product is stated or implied. Please credit Lifescapes,

Texas A&M Agriculture.

ON THE COVER

Texas A&M University Women’s EquestrianTeam’s top western rider for 2004–2005

Katie Forest, with Topsail Jewel(see story on page 2).

Photo: Jim LyleBack Cover Photo: Jerrold Summerlin

17,000 copies printed

Lifescapesis not printed at state expense.

MKT-3475

Fr o m t h eV i c e C h a n c e l l o rHappy New Year!

American author Bill Vaughn wrote: “An opti-

mist stays up until midnight to see the new year

in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old

year leaves.” We at Texas A&M Agriculture are

optimistic about the great opportunities that

2006 will bring! Before we look forward, how-

ever, I would like to list some things we accom-

plished in 2005 on behalf of Texas agriculture:

• Completed our new Teaching, Research, and

Extension Roadmaps, outlining our goals and

symbolizing our commitment to serving the

citizens of Texas.

• Began an assessment of our programs,

because to actively pursue our roadmaps we

need to know if programs need strengthening or, perhaps, redirection.

• Worked to ensure that the Texas Legislature would provide the resources we need

to conduct our mission as a land-grant university. For the first time, the legislature

awarded us funds to rebuild infrastructure at the 13 statewide Research and Extension

centers. To ensure we keep legislators informed about how we spend taxpayers’

money, we embarked on a “get to know your legislator” campaign.

• Engaged in strategic planning with our department heads, center directors, and

Extension administrators, because they are closest to the action and their efforts will

help us succeed.

• Explored ways to expand teaching within the Texas A&M System and developed

strategies to aggressively recruit students by showing them the array of career oppor-

tunities in agriculture. Visit our Web site www.agforlife.com, and you’ll see what

I mean!

• Revamped the way we communicate with our faculty and stakeholders. The Vice

Chancellor’s Feedback Forum has been a great tool for providing me with input from

faculty statewide. We also plan to market agriculture in as many major Texas media

markets as possible.

This is a period of renaissance for agriculture at Texas A&M. President Robert

Gates says great things are coming our way, so we should “fasten our seat belts and

enjoy the ride.” I believe that incredible things are coming our way in Texas A&M

Agriculture, so put on your helmets too, because we're on a rocket ride to put the A

back in A&M!

Elsa A. MuranoVice Chancellor for Agriculture and Life SciencesDirector, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station

C o n t e n t sAggie Riders 2

Women’s Equestrian Team is winning national recognition and making A&M proud

Helping Hands in Times of Trouble 8Texas A&M Agriculture aids hurricane victims

Team Quail 11Improving habitats for a dwindling population

Robots in the Hot Zone 14Mechanical ‘hands’ make veterinary diagnostics safer and faster

Cooking Well 18Class helps people with diabetes eat healthy to stay well

Case Closed 22Inmates and scientists capture gray water for green fields

From Field to Fabric 26Producing better fibers and higher yields with hybrid cottons

Entrepreneurial Spirit 30Dynamic professor and former students prepare

Aggies to start rural businesses

Innovation and Service 33Rauns’ dedication and generosity enrich

Texas’ rice industry and communities

Vo l . 6 N o . 1 , Winter 2006

18

8

D e p a r t m e n t sState Gems 7

Trailblazers 17

Frontiers of Discovery 25

Giving Matters 36

33

2 Lifescapes

� � � �

Aggie RidersWomen’s Equestrian Team is winning national recognition

and making A&M proud by Ann Shurgin

n a bright and windy Saturday morning in March,young women wait on horseback for their turn to com-pete, rhinestone-studded shirts glittering in the sun-

light. Katie Forest, the Texas A&M University Women’sEquestrian Team’s top western rider, mounts up and approach-es the arena gate. With an unfamiliar horse she chose in theluck of a draw, she must rely on her riding skills to completeher assigned patterns andcatch the judge’s eye.

As Forest gives the horsesubtle cues for performing thereining maneuvers, her face isunreadable and focused, char-acteristic of the poise and men-tal toughness essential for suc-cessful competition. Two of hercoaches watch from the gate,making mental notes, notallowed to provide guidancefrom behind the rails.

On this final weekend of reg-ular-season regional pointshows, Forest, a senior fromRichmond, Texas, is the high-point winner in reining and openhorsemanship. Her season total makes her the high-point west-ern winner in the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association’s(IHSA’s) regional competition. Her senior teammate CasieLisabeth wins reserve high-point honors.

Competing at the varsity level only since 1999, the Aggieequestrian team has become one of the top programs in thecountry. The western riding team has won three nationalchampionships and one reserve national championship since2002. And this year, for the first time, the school’s Englishteam placed its highest so far: fourth at Nationals, held inSunbury, Ohio, in May.

Supported through a partnership of the Department ofAnimal Science and the Athletic Department, the team main-

tains between 65 and 80 members to give A&M a well-round-ed group of riders in each of the 16 categories of competition.

Horses are donated from around the country, but they mustbe trained, safe, and tolerant of different riders.

Competitions are on a point system, which qualifies high-scoring riders to compete in regional, zone, and national cham-pionships. Team and individual Nationals winners receive tro-

phies and other awards fromthe U.S. Equestrian Federation,the American Quarter HorseAssociation, and the NationalReining Horse Association.

To accommodate riders of allskill levels, and regardless offinancial status, IHSA rulesrequire that teams ride horsesprovided by the school hostingthe competition. Saddles andtack are also provided. At theevent, riders are assigned ahorse through a lottery about10 minutes before the competi-tion in their class.

Noncompeting riders warm up the animals at the beginningof the day, giving team members a chance to watch the horsescarefully and make notes about their qualities.

Because their mounts are always unfamiliar, equestrianteam members must be skilled, versatile riders who can han-dle horses of any temperament and make smooth adjustmentswhen things go awry. The Aggies say this is the biggest chal-lenge of their sport.

“That first jump, you don’t know what to expect,” saysEnglish rider Erica Palomo. “If the horse jumps really hard, itkind of loosens you out of the tack.”

OPPOSITE: During a competition in March 2005 in College Station, Aggie Englishrider Bethany Broyles and teammates tend to horses while A&M’s western riders prepare for their turn in the arena.

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Western rider Morgan Senac recalls,“At West Texas this year I got this horsethat I did not want at all, but it turnedout fine once I started riding him. Helooked like a giraffe. His head was wayup in the air, and he was prancingaround.”

So how do they maintain their cool infront of the judges under these circum-stances? Aside from lots of practice rid-ing different horses, it’s all about show-manship and the mental game.

Kate Toomey, a western rider whowon first place in the intermediatehorsemanship class at Nationals in May,says when the horse does the unexpect-ed “you just have to pretend like noth-ing’s happened, and it’s so hard becauseyou’re so flustered in your head.”

Top Aggie English rider StephanieGlass, who led her team to their fourth-place finish at Nationals before she grad-uated, says, “You’re thinking as quicklyas you can to make the right decision assmoothly as possible, so the judge does-n’t see any rash changes with yourhands or body.”

“It’s all about showmanship—trickingthe judge, really,” Forest explains. “Justpretending that everything’s fine. A lot

of people just give up if they mess up inthe middle of their pattern. You’ve got toforget about that.”

Head Coach Tana Rawson emphasizesmental toughness and visualization: “Ifthey can mentally prepare themselves tosee what happens over and over in theirhead on different types of horses, theycan anticipate mistakes, so when theyhappen they can easily correct them andmove on.”

Western riders compete according toassigned reining patterns, consisting ofsuch maneuvers as large, fast circles;small, slow circles; spins; sliding stops;and lead changes. English riders arejudged on equitation in walk, trot, andcanter and on jumps over fences rang-ing, by class, up to approximately 3 feet.

Judges look forproper riding form,control of thehorse, and preci-sion in performingmaneuvers. Riders

receive their pattern assignments eitherthe night before or the morning of com-petition, which requires quick memo-rization and mental practice.

Western rider Debbie Ramirez, whowon her second Nationals title this year,says, “I have to go through the pattern inmy head constantly before I go into thearena. I stay in my own zone and focuson myself and on the horse. That keepsmy nerves calm.”

Ramirez was featured in the Aug. 8issue of Sports Illustrated for her back-to-back Nationals wins. She also helped herteam win the 2005 Varsity NationalChampionships in Santa Fe, N.M.

In addition to their attractive ridingoutfits—which don’t display schoolnames to avoid biasing judges—theyoung women project a personal stylethat can range from athletic to polished.

“Everybody who has seen me ride hassaid I have an elegant, smooth look thatdraws the judges’ eye—not Las Vegasflash, just very classy,” Toomey says.But, she admits, “It’s a challenge to beregal or elegant on a horse you don’tknow.”

The Aggies travel primarily to WestTexas A&M in Canyon, Oklahoma StateUniversity in Stillwater, and Texas Techin Lubbock during regular seasonevents. Regional, zone, and nationalchampionships expand the competition.

It’s a long season for the team, exten-ding through fall and spring semesters.Juggling academics, practices, gym work-outs, and travel takes self-discipline.Keeping up grade point averages isn’t aproblem for these riders, however; mostare honor students, with several highschool valedictorians among them.

4 Lifescapes

ABOVE, LEFT TO RIGHT: Western rider Morgan Senactakes time to enjoy the sunshine before practice.Katie Henion and Ann Marie Reubin compete inEnglish equitation and fences.

“If they can mentally prepare themselves, . . . they can anticipate mistakes.”

—Head Coach Tana Rawson

Photos: Jim Lyle and Glen Johnson

Camaraderie and mutual supportmake the team like family for the Aggieequestrians. Palomo says, “When wetravel, we all get up at 5 a.m., even thegirls who aren’t competing, to havebreakfast together and support eachother.”

Rawson, a 1996 graduate of ColoradoState University, rode both English andwestern with Colorado’s equestrian clubteam. When she came to Texas A&M in1998 to work on her master’s degree inagriculture, with an emphasis in equinebehavior, she coached as a graduateassistant. In 1999, the year the teambecame a varsity sport, she shared thehead coach duties with Meghan NolanBoenig, now head coach at theUniversity of Georgia.

In 2000, Rawson took the head coach-ing helm on her own. She is now assist-ed by English riding team assistantcoach, Linzy Woolf; new western teamassistant coach, Beth Bass; and Forest,who signed on as operational assistantcoach after graduation. Woolf and Bassteach animal science courses, butRawson says being head coach “is a full-time job—and then some.

“I was in the right spot at the righttime as far as the emergence of thesport,” she says. “I always knew I’d beinvolved in the academic side of theequine programs, but this is the best ofboth worlds.”

In addition to hard work and practice,most Aggie team members have aunique way of preparing for competi-tions. Some even have a superstition ortwo for good luck.

English riderAnn MarieReubin says, “Iseem to get a littlenervous beforeshows, so I try to go into my littlehappy zone, listen to music, talk to myfamily, concentrate on something elsebefore I go in.”

Forest tries to get a good night’s sleep,eat right, and not “go partying the nightbefore.” She also keeps a lucky penny inher boot. Senac goes out for a good luckdinner of chicken quesadillas and picklechips.

And Coach Rawson? “I paint my fin-gernails maroon,” she says, smiling.

“Growth” was the team’s universalanswer when asked what they wouldlike to see for the future of their sport,both on a national level and at A&M.

“I would like to see it become a Big 12sport,” Ramirez says.

Rawson says one of her goals ascoach, aside from continuing to win

championships, is to help raise moneyto improve the Equestrian Center’s facilities.

“There are a lot of classes and otherfolks that use this facility,” she explains.“We videotape our practices so the girlscan see what they need to do toimprove. But we don’t have the facilitiesto do it right. Once we get a field houseout here it will be better.”

What does it take to get a place on theteam? Rawson says she recruits highschool seniors each summer by scoutingat top English and western shows in dif-ferent states. Prospective members alsosend in videotapes and try out for theteam.

“I like to watch the warm-up ratherthan the show pen,” Rawson says.“They’re working with their horses, andif something goes wrong they fix it. Ilike to see how they do that, becausethat’s really what we’re about.”

Web site:http://www.aggieathletics.com/index.php?SID=WEQ

Winter 2006 5

ABOVE, LEFT TO RIGHT: Head Coach Tana Rawson (left)and English Coach Linzy Woolf study results anddiscuss strategy during a competition. Western rider Kate Toomey demonstrates the poiseand personal style each rider must develop toimpress the judges.

“I seem to get a little nervous before shows,so I try to go into my little happy zone.”

—English rider Ann Marie Reubin

6 Lifescapes

The Texas A&M Women’sEquestrian Team began as astudent horseback ridingclub in the Department ofAnimal Science in the 1970s.Today, it is one of only 36NCAA-recognized equestrianteams in the United Statesand Canada.

Here is the way Dr. GaryPotter, the professor ofequine science who’s beenthere since the beginning,tells the story:

The Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA)was founded in 1967 by Robert Cacchione and John H.“Jack” Fritz at Fairleigh Dickinson University in NewJersey to give all student riders, regardless of skill orfinancial status, the chance to compete.

Fritz visited Texas A&M in the late 1960s and spokewith Potter about the IHSA, urging the university to get involved. But at that time, the idea “didn’t stick”with students who rode in local and regional shows,Potter says.

Potter left A&M in 1970 but returned in 1972. The lateO. D. Butler, then head of the Department of AnimalScience and also chair of the Texas A&M AthleticCouncil, gave Potter his first assignment: Get togethera proposal for developing an equestrian center at A&M.

The Board of Regents designated the location (65acres on Turkey Creek Road just off FM 2818) andappropriated funds to start development of the center.The Freeman Arena, named for longtime youth horseprograms supporter N. W. “Dick” Freeman, was estab-lished in 1977 and completed in 1985. The center nowalso comprises training facilities, stables, and pasturefor A&M horses. Fundraising is under way for addingclassrooms, lockers for equestrian team members, anda new arena.

During the 1970s and 1980s, A&M held horseback rid-ing competitions and invited college students from sur-rounding states. Most shows were held in College Station, but when thestudents traveled to other universities they provided their own trans-portation. No school money was put into the program.

Potter says the expense wasn’t as much of a problem as the time.They traveled “by hooking a horse trailer to a pickup truck.” With WestTexas A&M alone nearly 550 miles away, he says, “The geography wore

them out. You can’t justleave on a Friday to go to ahorse show in Canyon andget back on Monday morn-ing to go to class.”

Meanwhile, the IHSA wasgrowing, and graduate stu-dents who came to A&Mfrom participating universi-ties began to cultivate theidea among undergradshere.

In 1989, Texas A&M inau-gurated its first equestrian club team, in theDepartment of Animal Science, through the Texas A&MHorsemen’s Association, a student organization withmembership in the IHSA. The students rode schoolhorses, as equestrian team members do today.

“Not many kids joined at first,” says Potter. “Butsoon they were all interested.” In 1994, A&M hosted anational IHSA championship, and the home team won.Potter was on the board of directors that helped putthe show together.

In the late 1990s, at an Aggie baseball game, Pottertalked with family friend Lynn Hickey, then associateathletic director for women’s sports at A&M. (Hickey’shusband, Bill, had coached Potter’s son, Bill, on theA&M baseball team during the 1980s.) Hickey waslooking to add new women’s varsity sports. Awarethat Eastern schools had women’s equestrian teams,she asked Potter about the A&M Horsemen’sAssociation club and was thrilled to learn that 90 per-cent of the 150 “horsemen” were women.

“She said, ‘Let’s do it,’” Potter recalls. “We had ameeting with Wally Groff [then A&M’s athletic direc-tor], and he said ‘I’m ready to go.’” So the Texas A&MVarsity Women’s Equestrian Team was formed, practi-cally overnight, beginning in the 1999–2000 schoolyear. Animal Science provided the technical expertise,and the Athletic Department provided the funding.The team still works the same way.

“It’s a happy marriage between Athletics and Animal Science,” Pottersays. “It’s been a tremendous success story, a classic example of howtwo departments with different areas of expertise can come togetherand create a synergy from that. What made it work is the team alreadyhad a good reputation and a good program. They just changed their status.”

The Aggie Equestrian Team’s first starrider was Quincy Cahill, pictured withher mother, Madisonville horse trainerNancy Cahill, as Quincy received herthird-straight AQHA high-point trophy,during the 2002 Nationals competitionin Cazenovia, N.Y. She graduated thatyear with a degree in animal science,after leading the team to its first IHSAwestern national championship. Withsix national individual championshipsto her credit, Quincy is the most deco-rated western rider in collegiateequestrian history. Now married tohorse trainer Dustin Allen, she is a suc-cessful competitor in the Non-ProDivision in National Reining HorseAssociation shows.

From Riding Club to Champion Athletes

The first Texas A&M Varsity Women’s Equestrian Team, 1999–2000.

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son

Winter 2006 7

S t a t e G e m s

Ranchers Move toward Animal ID System

Texas cattle ranchers are being urgedto register with the Texas AnimalHealth Commission for a premise iden-tification number as part of theNational Animal Identification System,to be implemented in stages until com-pletion in 2008. In the works longbefore the first discovery of mad cowdisease in the United States inDecember 2003, the national systemwill track animals to help control dis-ease in beef cattle and other livestock,including swine and poultry. Accordingto Dr. Ted McCollum, Texas Cooper-ative Extension beef cattle specialistfrom Amarillo, the system will helpofficials trace, within 48 hours, theranch where a diseased animal originated.

Producers also need to become famil-iar with the electronic ear tag identifica-tion technology proposed as part of thenational system, says McCollum. Muchlike a vehicle identification number, tagnumbers will be linked to data on indi-vidual animals, including genetic information.

Armed with production and healthrecords on their cattle, ranchers canmarket them at specialty sales assource-verified beef.

Beef producers learned about the newsystem at the Texas A&M UniversityBeef Cattle Short Course on Aug. 1.

School IPM Program Wins EPA Award

Mike Merchant, urban entomologistwith Texas Cooperative Extension, andJanet Hurley, coordinator of the

School Integrated Pest Management(IPM) Program based at the SouthwestTechnical Resource Center at The TexasA&M University System AgriculturalResearch and Extension Center inDallas, received the U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agency’s (EPA’s) PesticideEnvironmental Stewardship ProgramChampion award in Washington, D.C.,on July 15. The four-year-old IPM pro-gram helps schools get rid of verminand unwanted pests using fewer andsafer pesticides.

In 1990, Texas enacted one of thenation’s toughest laws governing pesti-cide use in public school buildings. Alldistricts were required to implement anIPM program by Sept. 1, 1995, but from1995 to 2001 there was no resource toguide them in this process. TheSouthwest Technical Resource Centeropened in 2001, after receiving a seedgrant from the EPA. Since opening, ithas trained more than one-third ofTexas’ 1,039 school districts in IPM.

The focus, Hurley explains, is on pre-venting pests from moving in—”beingproactive rather than reactive.” Formore information about Texas’ schoolpest management programs, visithttp://schoolipm.tamu.edu.

Texas Master Naturalists ‘Take Pride’

The Texas Master Naturalist programhas won the Take Pride in Americaaward in the state programs categoryfor its abundant volunteer hours andpositive impact on the state’s wildlifeand native plants. A joint effort of TexasCooperative Extension and the TexasParks and Wildlife Department, the pro-gram develops “master volunteers” atlocal levels to provide education, out-reach and service to better manage nat-ural resources and natural areas.

Established in 1998, the program hasprovided more than 334,000 hours ofservice, valued at more than $3.38 mil-lion, according to program coordinatorMichelle Haggerty. Volunteers havebettered 75,000 acres of wildlife andnative plant habitat, reached more than500,000 people, and even discovered anew plant species.

For more information, visit http://masternaturalist.tamu.eduand http://www. takepride.gov.

Food and Nutrition Focus ofNew A&M Department

Texas A&M’s College of Agricultureand Life Sciences opened its newDepartment of Nutrition and FoodScience on Sept. 13 and began offeringclasses this fall, with an enrollment ofapproximately 475 students. Thedepartment originated with a grassrootsmovement of researchers and teacherswho saw a need to address such issuesas obesity, diabetes, and the impact ofvalue-added foods on health and theeconomy.

The new department incorporatesclasses previously offered in AnimalScience, Horticulture, and other depart-ments, but it also offers new coursesand expands research.

Faculty members will work withTexas Cooperative Extension and theTexas Agricultural Experiment Stationto bring research findings to the com-munity and help Texans learn to makehealthful food and lifestyle choices.

Graduates of the new department willearn a degree in either nutrition or foodscience. Those earning a registered die-titian certification may work in hospi-tals, restaurants, the food industry or asdietary counselors. Other students maychoose a career as a health counselor,pursue a medical degree, or work forlarge corporations in the food industry.

Heading the new department is Dr.Michael McBurney, a former execu-tive at Kellogg Company (see story in“Trailblazers,” p. 17).

For more information, visithttp://nfs.tamu.edu.

HELPINGHANDSin Times of

TroubleTexas A&M Agriculture aids

hurricane victimsby Paul Schattenberg

Teamwork is the word that best describes the effortsof agencies within Texas A&M Agriculture who arehelping those affected by hurricanes Katrina and

Rita. Before these hurricanes made landfall, employees of the

Texas Forest Service were rushing toward anticipatedstrike zones to begin setting up disaster-management stag-ing and supply-distribution areas.

Texas Cooperative Extension and the Texas AgriculturalExperiment Station, along with Texas A&M University,joined to help address the immediate needs of thoseaffected, as well as to identify and implement longer-termrecovery assistance strategies.

9Winter 2006

“What allowed us to react so quickly to help victims of boththese disasters was our geographic diversity in combinationwith the diversity of skills and abilities within our agencies,”says Dr. Elsa Murano, vice chancellor for agriculture and lifesciences and director of the Texas Agricultural ExperimentStation. “Because we have Extension offices serving everycounty and Experiment Station locations in every region of thestate, we were able to apply resources and expertise when andwhere they were needed.”

As the extent of the damage from Hurricane Katrina becameevident, Texas A&M Agriculture administrators allowedemployees emergency leave to help those affected. Dozensused this leave time—and their personal time—to help at evac-uee relocation centers and provide other support, includingdata entry to missing-person locations.

“Together, our agencies were able to assist with everythingfrom initial catastrophe management oversight to collectingand distributing food, clothing, hygiene and health items, andother badly needed supplies to Katrina evacuees,” Muranosays. “We were also able to provide them with practical infor-mation and instruction to help in the return to a normal life.”

Lone Star Shines During both hurricane recovery efforts, the Texas Forest

Service was at the vanguard of providing immediate and criti-cal assistance to those affected. The agency’s Lone StarIncident Management Team took a lead role in initial disastermanagement and remained in place to help coordinate recov-ery efforts, distribute supplies and help protect affected areasfrom additional damage by accidental fire.

“During the Katrina event, we asked federal and stateauthorities to be directly involved in recovery efforts from the

outset,” says Mark Stanford, chief of fire operations for theTexas Forest Service. “We were again brought in to use ouremergency management expertise to help during Rita.”

In 2003 the team had worked with the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency (FEMA), serving as the lead state agencyduring the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster recovery effort, soFEMA was familiar with the Forest Service’s capabilities,Stanford says.

“They already knew we could set up in remote areas andestablish a base from which to coordinate disaster manage-ment activities,” he says. “It’s a capability we apply in han-dling wildland fires, but the structure is the same for handlingother types of disasters as well. That includes establishingsatellite communications, which are essential to coordinatingrecovery efforts.”

Extension information technology specialists from Lubbockand Stephenville also pitched in during initial Katrina recoveryefforts, traveling to Louisiana with additional satellite commu-nications equipment, computers and a generator—all housedin a mobile-office trailer.

A small contingent of Incident Management Team membersarrived in Louisiana prior to Katrina’s landfall on Aug. 29.Within 48 hours after landfall, a team of more than 70 hadgathered in Baton Rouge to await FEMA’s instructions.

A few days later, the team was setting up a regional stagingarea in nearby Hammond, Louisiana. The staging area wouldultimately accommodate more than 1,300 emergency respon-ders from throughout the nation, primarily National Guardand wildland firefighting crews.

The Incident Management Team also established a secondstaging area south of Lake Pontchartrain and took responsibili-ty for food, water and ice distribution to hurricane victimssouth and east of Baton Rouge, which included New Orleans.

The team ultimately distributed almost 6 million MREs(Meals, Ready-to-Eat) and more than 2 million gallons of waterand 12 million pounds of ice to about 900,000 people.

“We’re usually deployed for two or three weeks at the outsetof a disaster, then another agency or the National Guard takesover long-term recovery operations,” Stanford says.

During Katrina, Incident Management Team membersworked with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture andForestry and Louisiana National Guard on recovery efforts.Then, team members trained Pennsylvania National

LEFT TO RIGHT: Dr. Elsa Murano was briefed by Col. Joel Wierenga, a commanderin the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, at the Lone Star Incident ManagementTeam makeshift headquarters, set up in a newly constructed JCPenney store inHammond, Louisiana. Casey Richardson and Bruce Woods of the Texas ForestService unload MREs that were distributed to hurricane victims in Slidell,Louisiana. Debbie Bishop, Randy Ortolon and Newton County Extension agentEd Johnson (right) were among the many volunteers who cooked and serveddonated foods that would have otherwise spoiled because of power outages.They prepared 400 to 500 meals per day to feed emergency personnel and vic-tims of Hurricane Rita.

Photos: Texas Forest Service and Robert Burns

10 Lifescapes

Guardsmen to take over their responsibilities.Even as the Texas Forest Service continued with Katrina

recovery efforts, Hurricane Rita grew to a Category 4 andthreatened the upper Texas Gulf Coast in late September.Team members were deployed to Corpus Christi, Galveston,Houston and Beaumont in anticipation of landfall, and theagency made plans for coordinating disaster recovery effortsthere. The team again took a lead role in distributing food,water and ice to those in Southeast Texas affected byHurricane Rita.

The Basics and Beyond As tens of thousands of evacuees displaced by Katrina

sought shelters across Texas, Experiment Station and TexasCooperative Extension employees worked together to provideassistance. These agencies gathered food, clothing and othernecessities for evacuees.

“Providing food and other basic needs is something we arewell-equipped to handle,” says Murano. “We had a chance totake the agricultural and practical life skills we are known forand apply them to help those affected by the hurricanes.”

Texas A&M University System Agricultural Research andExtension Centers in Amarillo and Weslaco found an unusualway to help Katrina victims. Volunteers quickly harvested fieldtrial plots at both locations, and hundreds of pounds of freshcantaloupes, corn and tomatoes were rushed to feed evacuees.

At the same time, in Andrews, Angelina, Bexar, Travis andEl Paso counties, Extension employees, working alongside 4-H’ers, Master Gardeners and other volunteers, assembledand delivered more than 1,000 “health kits” containing soap,shampoo, deodorant, adhesive bandages, ointment and otherneeded items to evacuees in their areas. They also collectedfood, clothing and other urgently needed items and deliveredthem to area relocation centers.

Across the state, Extension-administered 4-H clubs collectedand distributed food, clothing, and other supplies, such asblankets, pillows and bedding, for the displaced.

“They didn’t forget about our four-legged friends either,”notes Dr. Martha Couch, associate director for 4-H and youthdevelopment. “Along with helping people, 4-H clubs were alsoactive in collecting and delivering food, medicine and suppliesfor horses and domestic animals displaced by the hurricanes.”

“Once the more immediate needs of those affected werehandled, we were able to also provide further assistancethrough our free educational materials and instruction,” saysDr. Ed Smith, Extension director. “This included help withmoney management, health and wellness, nutrition and foodsafety, and more.”

Back to School Texas A&M’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

(COALS) welcomed a small number of agriculture studentsdisplaced by Hurricane Katrina. More than 350 students wereadmitted to the A&M System as a whole from colleges anduniversities in the affected area. The College Station campushad made arrangements to accommodate as many as 1,000students, should that many be displaced.

About 440 students from the impacted region who werealready attending A&M at the time Katrina hit were givenadditional financial help or counseling if needed.

“The Student Computing Center was turned into a one-stopsite for admissions, registration and other needs for these stu-dents,” says Dr. Karen Kubena, COALS associate dean for aca-demic affairs. “At this location, displaced students were to beadmitted to Texas A&M despite not having their academicrecords available. They could meet with advisers, register forclasses, sign up for meal plans and even schedule a dormroom or order football tickets.”

One of these students, Kalin Touchy, who was attendingTulane University in New Orleans, is now a COALS student.

“When I found out Tulane wasn’t going to have classesbecause of Katrina, I talked to some friends who had said theywere coming to A&M, so I decided to go too,” says the 18-year-old biochemistry major currently studying animal sci-ence. “They made the registration process easy for me. It onlytook about two and a half hours to take care of everything.”

Kubena adds that timing played an important part in accom-modating students displaced by Katrina. “We were able tobring in those affected by Katrina because classes had begunthe week before,” she says. “We could not admit students dis-placed by Rita because we were too far into the semester.”

However, she adds, Rita did send a “flood” of students fromHouston colleges. Reed Arena was turned into a shelter forhundreds of students from the University of Houston, Rice,and Texas Southern University. The Texas A&M Corps ofCadets was put in charge of assisting them through their stay.

Hurricane Rita cut a damaging swath through East Texas asit moved inland just east of Beaumont on Sept. 24. Rita dam-aged hundreds of dwellings, left thousands of homes withoutpower and toppled an estimated 2 million trees in more than17 counties.

Extension, which annually distributes thousands of publica-tions over the Internet, had to resort to trucking in informa-tion booklets on disaster recovery that people couldn’t get anyother way because of the power outages.

In all, some 67,000 sets of publications were sent to the dis-aster areas, many of them distributed personally by Extensionagents who were also dealing with heavy property lossesthemselves. Thousands more were passed out by Texas ForestService employees.

Miles to Go. . .While much has been done to assist those affected by

Katrina and Rita, there are still many ongoing ways those inthe Texas A&M System can help, says Murano.

“We’re glad for what we have been able to do for the vic-tims of these two hurricanes, but there are more opportunitiesfor us as a team, as well as opportunities for individuals.That’s why we developed the Texas A&M Agriculture SupportNetwork.”

The network is an online bulletin board allowing people toseek and offer referrals and resources to meet the needs offriends, relatives or neighbors making a new start afterKatrina. The bulletin board is located at http://eit-data.tamu.edu/KatrinaBB/default.asp

“The evidence of the personal and professional commitmentto improve the lives of others is truly inspiring,” Murano says.“And we are glad to extend our response in this time of crisisto the longer transition that lies ahead for these hurricane survivors.”

11Winter 2006

Abarnyard rooster’s crow is the standardwake-up call in rural Texas. But it’s the callof a rooster quail that may awaken ranch-

ers to helping the popular game bird thrive ontheir lands once more.

Billy Holle of Brenham and Texas Quail Index cooperator Deborah Clarkcount and identify key forbs for quail at a recent session of QuailMasters,a series of workshops on quail management co-sponsored by the TexasWildlife Association and Texas Cooperative Extension.

Team QuailImproving habitats for a dwindling populationby Steve Byrns

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Answering—and counting—this avian“call of the wild” is at the center of afive-year Texas Cooperative Extensiondemonstration. Whether for personalsatisfaction or profit, more and morelandowners are interested in boostingquail populations and tracking quailactivity on their land. The Texas QuailIndex is a program designed to helpthem do just that.

The index doesn’t require sophisticat-ed electronics, and it’s cheap. Equip-ment ranges from a hula hoop to chick-en eggs; sunrises are spent in an out-door classroom listening for quail calls.The activities are hands-on and easy tolearn.

The idea of predicting the next sea-son’s quail crop some eight monthsearly, and with statistical certainty, mayseem a little far-fetched. But this is amajor Texas Quail Index goal.

The statewide program, now in itsfourth year, seeks to measure and pre-dict quail population dynamics acrossTexas, according to Dr. Dale Rollins,originator and coordinator of the pro-ject. Rollins is the Extension wildlifespecialist at The Texas A&M UniversitySystem Agricultural Research andExtension Center at San Angelo.

“We’re trying to determine if there isanything we can measure during Mayand June that will predict with any reli-ability what the quail hunting is goingto be like in December,” he says. “Theability to make such long-term projec-tions is of tremendous interest tolandowners and hunt managers, whooften book clients six months ahead ofthe season.

“The index is really just one grandexperiment involving nonprofessionalpersonnel,” Rollins continues. “At anygiven time we will be working with 20to 50 landowners, called cooperators,and Extension agents across the state.Most are in the northwestern part ofTexas.”

Dr. Dean Ransom, wildlife researchscientist for the Texas AgriculturalExperiment Station in Vernon, comparesthe index to other citizen-based monitor-ing efforts.

“It is not unlike the North AmericanBreeding Bird Survey, or the AudubonChristmas Bird Count,” he says. “Bothare volunteer efforts that have identifiedmany bird species that are not doingwell. There are few studies like these

that have moderate- to long-term dataover extremely large areas. That aspectalone provides baseline data that can beextremely valuable.”

Rollins says he and other experts trainboth cooperators and their local Exten-sion agents in the index’s methodology.

Rebel Royall, Extension agent inStonewall County, is one of thosetrained agents.

“The various counts are very time-demanding,” he says. “However, theknowledge gained through this programis tremendous. This study teaches usthe factors that either make or break thespecies, such as habitat improvement ordestruction.

“I am fortunate to have a great coop-erator in Stonewall County in the pro-gram,” says Royall.

His cooperator is Rick Snipes, who,with wife Lana and son Bailey, boughtwhat is now the Snipes Ranch in 2002.Royall says Snipes’ goal is to make theranch the top quail-hunting propertyanywhere.

“Rick spent most of his life on theEast Coast,” Royall explains. “Hewatched firsthand the destruction ofquail habitat, and eventually thespecies, in the eastern United States.Since moving to the ranch, he has dedi-cated most of his time to his family andto improving quail habitat on the place.”

“Being an index cooperator has givenme a better knowledge of our property,”Snipes says. “By learning where thelargest and smallest populations of quailand forbs [broad-leafed weeds] were, Iknew where to concentrate my habitat-improvement efforts. For example, in2002 the northeastern part of the ranchwas overgrown with mesquite. Therewas very little ground cover in terms ofgrass and forbs. Spring and fall callcounts indicated very few birds.”

By using a combination of range management techniques, he says, “wewere able to change that part of theranch into a renewed and dynamic quail habitat.”

“You can see and hear the difference,”Royall says, adding that spring roostercalls are as numerous as on any otherpart of the ranch.

Deborah Clark is another cooperator.Clark and her husband, Emry Birdwell,bought a Clay County ranch in January2004. The couple bought the place pri-marily for ranching, but they were also

12

TOP: (Clockwise from left) Jason Minzenmayer ofMoncrief Ranch at Weatherford, Jim Kenton ofHamilton, and Marc Bartoskewitz of the KingRanch examine eggshell remains in a “dummynest” during a Texas Quail Index training ses-sion near San Angelo.BOTTOM: Extension agent Steve Sturtz (left) andAdron Welch of McDowell Ranch record quailharvest information, which includes the age andsex of each bird, number of coveys flushed, andnumber of quail bagged per hour, following arecent hunt.

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13Winter 2006

attracted by the property’s abundantwildlife.

Clark says the index training hasincreased their knowledge of the quailand its habitat.

“The exposure to factors affecting theviability of the quail population helps ussee our ranching activities in a newlight,” she says. For example, the ranchhas an abundance of wide-open, rollinggrassland, excellent for cattle grazing.But quail are more abundant in the pas-tures with native plum thickets.

“We’re now planting 2,000 plum cut-tings in the more open pastures. We’llmaintain our priority for cattle butenhance the cover for quail.

“What have I learned? I came into thisprogram with no knowledge,” she says.“But the program has allowed us to getto know our new ranch better and gaina greater appreciation for the blessingand privilege we have been given.”

Rollins says cooperators learn to mon-itor quail on their ranches using severaltechniques.

“We start with spring call counts inMay, actually listening for the roosters’calls,” he explains. “We’ll follow that upin June with what we call dummy neststo index the nesting success of quail.Three chicken eggs are placed to simu-late a quail’s nest. A total of 36 dummynests are established, and then moni-tored for 28 days to see how many sur-vive.” Dummy nests in which the eggshave not been destroyed indicate thebest nesting habitats for quail.

Roadside counts are conducted inSeptember and morning covey-callcounts in October.

“We’re compiling a large data set fromacross the state,” Rollins says. “Duringthe final year we’ll see what patternsare developing. Our aim is to narrowthe techniques down to the few that arethe most accurate and user-friendly. Wewant to come up with a tool or two tomeasure quail populations. So far, thespring call counts appear to be a decentindicator.”

Ransom says biologists have longthought that spring call counts are anindex of breeding activity, but to datethere has been little data to support theassumption.

“The spring call counts are promising,but the variability in the count data tellsus many cooperators, and some biolo-gists, over- and underestimate the num-

ber of calling birds they hear,” Ransomsays. “This is a training issue that caneasily be corrected. When all five yearsof data are in, we’d like to test thespring-fall call count relationship withexperienced cooperators. This mighttighten up the overall predictability ofthe project.”

Ideally, Rollins says, the counts wouldbe done by professionals well-versed inquail-counting procedures. But that levelof professional horsepower just isn’tavailable. That’s why Rollins chose totrain volunteers.

“We’ve suffered pretty high attritionamong cooperators,” he says. “While dis-concerting, this ebb and flow was notunexpected. The demonstration requiresat least 60 hours of fieldwork annually,much of it done at daylight. If you don’treally like quail, then all this effort getsto be a lot like work. To lessen the load,we’re working on a ‘TQI Lite,’ an abbre-viated version of the demonstration that

will be suitable for smaller propertiesand won’t require as much time.”

Rollins says the landowner and hunt-ing community benefits are obvious(quail-hunting leases provide a directeconomic benefit to ranchers), but headds that taxpayers also benefit.

“For depressed rural areas, quail hunt-ing is a real economic shot-in-the-arm,”he says. “Back in 1999 we surveyed onepopulation of quail hunters, members ofTexas Quail Unlimited. The averageamount a member spent in pursuit ofquail that year was $10,354. Of that, 65percent, or roughly $6,500, was spent inthe destination county. That’s a bigboost for the landowner, but motels,restaurants, the ‘gas and goes’—thosekinds of businesses are big recipientstoo. So rural economic development is abig winner.

“For the suburban and urban taxpayer,if property is being managed for quailsuccessfully, it benefits other animalsthat are not hunted,” Rollins continues.“Even though they may have no interestin hunting, everybody likes to see orobserve wildlife.

“It’s too early at this point to ask, ‘Hasit worked?’” Rollins says. “But fouryears of data strongly suggest the springcall counts [the familiar ‘bob-white’whistles] that we monitor in Mayexplain about 40 percent of the variabili-ty we observe in the fall covey calls. Ifthe relationship continues to hold, that’sgood news because the spring call countis one of the easiest to conduct—and it’sdone five months before hunting season!But there’s still a year left in the demon-stration, and lots of number crunchingremains to be done before we know forcertain.”

Rollins has confidence in one benefitof the index: Participating landownerswill develop greater empathy for thebirds and their habitats.

“I’m convinced that those individualscollecting the data have a much greaterappreciation of a quail’s dilemmas,” hesays. “They’re gaining valuable insightinto how to evaluate their quail habitat.It’s the old adage that ‘the best fertilizeris the footprint of the farmer.’ And onthat front, I’m confident the index willbe ‘flush’ with success.”

Web site:http://teamquail.tamu.edu

Although culprits such as roadrunners, raccoons, cattle egrets,skunks, hawks, weather, and especial-ly fire ants are often blamed for the

demise of quail, the fundamental rea-son for declining quail numbers is

loss of habitat. . . . Lack of adequate,suitable, quality nesting cover is themost widespread limiting factor in

quail production across most ofTexas. . . . For more than a century,

the lands that quail historically occu-pied in Texas have been drastically

altered by human actions such as firesuppression, changing farming prac-tices, timber and rangeland manage-ment practices, and human popula-tion growth. . . . Private landowners

hold the key to restoring quail populations.

“

Information courtesy Texas Parks and Wildlife Department © 2005, (Texas Quail Initiative, Where Have All the Quail Gone?). ”

Robots in the Hot

15

Mechanical ‘hands’ make veterinary diagnostics

safer and fasterby Edith Chenault

It was unadulterated panic at first. Hundreds of test tubesof poultry blood waited inside the door every morning.Workdays were at least 12 hours long. Testing had to be

done by specific protocols. The slightest mistake could shutdown poultry farms, cost hundreds of workers their jobs, andinflict severe financial damage to the industry.

That was the pressure faced by Dr. LoydSneed, head of molecular diagnostics, and tech-nicians at the Texas Veterinary MedicalDiagnostic Lab (TVMDL) during the avianinfluenza outbreak that occurred after a strainof the disease (not the H5N1 strain currently inthe news) was found in a commercial poultryflock in south central Texas in 2004.

And that’s why the robots are here.In September 2005, TVMDL received highly

automated robotic equipment to test samples inits new Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) laboratories. ABSL-3 lab requires stringent procedures to pre-vent disease organisms from escaping into theenvironment, including showers and changes ofclothing for technicians entering and leaving

the lab. Waste products are sterilized in an autoclave, usingheat, steam and pressure, before leaving the laboratory. Wateris captured and disinfected. The air is not recirculated; it pass-es through high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters beforeit is released. (Biosafety Level 4 labs require “moon suits” andbreathing equipment; there are no BSL-4 veterinary diagnosticlabs in the United States.)

An addition to the TVMDL facilities at Texas A&M inCollege Station, completed in 2004, houses two 800-square-foot BSL-3 labs and represents a huge step-up in laboratorycapabilities.

LEFT: Dr. Loyd Sneedenters data that willallow TVMDL’s newrobotic equipment toperform testing oncedone by hand. Therobot is expected toquadruple the lab’sdiagnostic capacity.ABOVE: Tissue samplesare prepared in a cen-trifuge for testing inthe Biosafety Level 3laboratory.

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“We have been ramping up our capabilities to diagnose for-eign animal diseases and diseases of high consequence,” saysDr. Lelve Gayle, director of TVMDL. “We are way down theroad in improving our equipment, and this will be an ongoingendeavor.”

In 2002, the lab was selected by the U.S. Department ofAgriculture (USDA) to be one of five state veterinary medicaldiagnostic laboratories to form the “hub” of the NationalAnimal Health Laboratory Network. The network providessurveillance of and response to high-consequence animal dis-eases. TVMDL’s major area of responsibility is the southwest-ern United States. One of 32 full-service diagnostic labs in theUnited States and Canada, it is accredited by the AmericanAssociation of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians and is theonly diagnostic lab in Texas with the BSL-3 designation.

The robotic equipment will allow the lab to handle up to6,000 tests per day.

“You can’t get enough people into this laboratory runningone test at a time to test that many samples,” he says.

During the avian influenza outbreak—and before therobots—the lab was receiving up to 500 samples with arequired 24-hour turnaround each day. The lab’s normal turn-around time was five days.

Sneed says, “That was a real shock to the system. I thinkafter we got rolling, we did well. We were able to limit thescope of the outbreak. With the new equipment, we hope toincrease our daily testing capacity by about fourfold.”

He says the National Veterinary Services Laboratory helped provide some equipment and supplies during the 2004outbreak.

“They suggested some improvements in the way we didthings—in terms of processing the samples—and we justburied ourselves in it and did the best we could,” Sneed says.“You don’t have any choice.”

He says the robotic equipment has turned work that oncecould be done only by hand into a mechanical process. Amachine measures the correct amount of sample that will betested, automatically adds testing reagents and provides theresult.

“We’ll still have to do a lot of setting up to get the tubeslined up in the right racks and all the numbers lined up so weknow what’s what, but the machine will actually do the pipet-ting for us,” he says.

When the 2004 avian influenza outbreak occurred, the diag-nostic lab was able to help the Texas Animal HealthCommission and the USDA Animal and Plant HealthInspection Service pinpoint the location of the outbreak in lessthan 18 hours.

One study indicates that for every day a highly infectiousdisease remains undiagnosed, it will spread to an average offive additional premises, Gayle says, noting that disease maybe spread by people, vehicles or even the wind.

The 2001 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Great Britainoverwhelmed that country’s major laboratory in just threedays. It took the laboratories in Great Britain six months toreach adequate capacity to be effective in the control effort.“The disease was spread all over the country by then,” Gaylesays.

“The worst nightmare I have is not being able to respondeffectively to an outbreak of highly infectious disease in ourlivestock population,” he adds. “When the whistle goes off,you’ve got no preparation time.

“Once we have completed our aggressive program to havethe capability and capacity to deal with these diseases, we willbe one of the best—if not the best—prepared state diagnosticlaboratories in the nation,” he says.

Gayle’s goal is to have the basics of this work in place by2006 and to keep upgrading after that. In case of an outbreak,his goal is to have the lab running 18 hours a day, with threeshifts of personnel. He is identifying diagnosticians from otheruniversities and agencies who can operate the equipment androtate in and out. Otherwise, he says, “After about three daysof testing, you will have walking zombies.”

This winter, TVMDL plans to add another weapon to itsarsenal: a mobile lab. But not just any mobile lab.

In addition to diagnosinginfectious diseases in itsBSL-3 lab, TVMDL is a full-service veterinary diag-nostic lab. Moleculargenetics technician BiancaMoses (above) prepares asample of brain tissue tobe tested for bovinespongiform encephalopa-thy, commonly known asmad cow disease.Assistant microbiologistSonia Lingsweiler (left)examines a bacteria cul-ture prepared from one ofthe many samples sent inby veterinarians through-out the United States.

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A team of water experts from The Texas A&M University System haswon the American Society of Biological and Agricultural Engineers’ BlueRibbon Award for the Rainwater Harvesting Web site, http://rainwaterharvesting.tamu.edu.

Team members are Dr. Russell Persyn, Texas Cooperative Extensionagricultural engineer; Dr. Valeen Silvy, Interdisciplinary Water Program,Texas A&M; Dr. Dana Porter, Extension agricultural engineer; RachelAlexander, research assistant, Department of Recreation, Park andTourism Sciences and Texas Water Resources Institute; and John Lyons,student technician, Department of Biological and AgriculturalEngineering.

The site includes instruction for designing and building rainwater har-vesting systems for home landscapes in Texas. Among its unique featuresis a calculator for determining requirements for individual rainwater har-vesting systems.

Dr. Michael McBurney, former senior nutrition business partner at theKellogg Company in Battle Creek, Mich., assumed his duties as head ofthe new Department of Nutrition and Food Science at Texas A&MUniversity on Aug. 1. At Kellogg, McBurney was responsible for nutritionresearch and labeling of U.S. food products.

McBurney earned his doctorate from Cornell University and complet-ed postdoctoral training at the University of Toronto. He taught nutritionat the University of Alberta at Edmonton from 1988 to 1997 and servedas an adjunct professor there and at Michigan State University.

The new department at A&M will focus on the applied science relatedto food structure and function, metabolism, nutrition, health attributes,and food preferences and choices (see “State Gems” on p. 7).

Renowned Texas Agricultural Experiment Station vegetable breeder Dr. Leonard Pike received the President’s Award from the TexasVegetable Association during the 2005 Texas Produce Convention andExpo at South Padre Island. He joined the Texas A&M University Soiland Crop Sciences Department in 1968 as an assistant professor andvegetable breeder and was instrumental in the formation of theHorticultural Sciences Department in 1976. He has traveled throughoutthe world conducting vegetable research and was the first director ofTexas A&M’s Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center.

Pike is best known for developing the 1015 SuperSweet onion, nowgrown in the United States, New Zealand, Chile, Australia and Mexico,with an economic impact of about $320 million.

He has also developed many varieties of cucumbers, sweet potatoesand carrots, including the popular maroon Beta Sweet, known for itshigh level of healthy beta-carotene. He has obtained more than $3.2million in commodity and industry grants for breeding programs and wasproject leader for U.S. Department of Agriculture grants totaling $2 mil-lion from 2002 to 2004.

Tr a i l b l a z e r s“It is a specimen-triage laboratory,” Gayle says. It will

enable diagnosticians to prioritize samples, identifying themwith barcodes, disinfecting them and preparing them fortesting.

The trailer, which also meets BSL-3 standards, will beparked outside the veterinary diagnostic lab in CollegeStation but can be moved to work in the field if needed.

The BSL-3 trailer will enhance the flexibility and capacityof the lab’s “high-consequence disease” mission by allowingboth laboratories in the building to run tests using samplesprepared in the trailer.

Generally, most foreign animal or high-consequence dis-eases are first encountered by a private veterinarian. Theveterinarian recognizes the disease as unusual and takessamples, which are sent to a state diagnostic lab. If that labreturns a positive diagnosis for a dangerous disease, it isreported to the USDA and the Texas Animal HealthCommission. The sample is then forwarded to the USDA’sNational Veterinary Services Laboratory at Ames, Iowa, forconfirmation.

The new equipment and BSL-3 status will enable the Texaslab to do what the USDA diagnostic labs in Iowa and atPlum Island, New York, can do. Eventually, the lab will beable to test for 12 of the most dangerous and infectious ani-mal diseases that threaten the United States.

The lab’s diagnosticians have already been trained to testfor foot-and-mouth disease; classical swine fever; exoticNewcastle disease, which kills poultry; highly pathogenicavian influenza (including the H5N1 strain); and vesicularstomatitis, a viral disease that causes blisters in the mouth ofcattle, horses and swine. Gayle says the diagnosticians willbe trained to recognize additional diseases among the 12 inthe future.

“We’re doing the training on a ‘most likely’ approach,” hesays. “We are most likely to get foot-and-mouth disease,because it is the most infectious disease on the face of theearth in animals.”

“We are under the threat of agroterrorism from livestockdiseases,” says Dr. Leon Russell, professor of epidemiologywith the College of Veterinary Medicine at Texas A&M andpresident of the World Veterinary Congress.

Foot-and-mouth disease would decimate the U.S. livestockindustry, Russell says. It could begin in wild hogs and deer—even in armadillos—and spread like wildfire to farm animals.

Classical swine fever is found in the Caribbean, and exoticNewcastle disease is present in some poultry flocks inMexico; both could move north into the United States. Thelethal cattle disease renderpest is present in Africa, but it isconsidered important to the United States because it resem-bles several endemic, but less infectious, diseases. Diagnostictests help scientists differentiate between these diseases.

“Diagnosis is based upon highly trained people in a labora-tory,” Russell says. The robotic equipment helps to expeditethis diagnosis, and although it may not quell the panic in theevent of another outbreak, it will certainly make for asmoother, faster response to the threat.

Web site:http://tvmdlweb.tamu.edu

17Winter 2006

Cooking Well

Class helps people with diabetes eat healthy to stay well

by Linda Anderson

19Winter 2006

t’s about 5:30 on a Monday evening in March, the end ofthe first workday of the week, and the roads are still fullof traffic.

This is the time of day when many just want to gethome. But for the 15 or so people who enter the BrazosCounty Extension office, the best part of their Monday is justbeginning. By their smiles and cheerful greetings, they showthis is where they want to be: their Cooking Well withDiabetes class.

The program is designed to complement the Do Well, BeWell with Diabetes program established by Texas CooperativeExtension about three years ago.

That initial program teaches participants how to improvetheir lives through healthful habits. Half the lessons are onself-care, including exercise, blood sugar checks and medicalcare. The other half are on healthy nutrition, says Dr. MickeyBielamowicz, Extension nutrition specialist, a registered dieti-tian and one of the program’s leaders.

Cooking Well with Diabetes teaches how to prepare tasty,nutritious dishes the whole family can enjoy—even those whodo not have diabetes.

Like the Do Well, Be Well program before it, Cooking Wellis being introduced gradually. The pilot program was intro-duced in 2004 in 12 Texas counties—Dallam, Hopkins, Denton,Cass, Dallas, Smith, El Paso, Taylor, Jones, Brazos, Medina andKerr—with 126 participants statewide. Most were women; theaverage age was 62. Most prepared their food at home, andless than 10 percent had any previous cooking school experi-ence. Most reported that the Cooking Well program was a pos-itive experience in their lives.

Training sessions for more Extension agents have followed;

so far about 55 agents have been trained to teach classes inthe Cooking Well program.

In Brazos County, Alma Fonseca, Extension agent for familyand consumer sciences, is in charge, but she’s not alone inteaching the lessons.

“In all we’ve had seven presenters plus me,” Fonseca says.“We team-teach. One does the lesson; one does the demonstra-tion.” Trying recipes and sampling dishes also make the class-es fun.

The class is taught in four two-hour sessions. The first ses-sion is on carbohydrates; the second on low-fat recipes; thethird on side dishes with reduced sodium and increased fiber.The fourth, on celebrating sensibly, marks the course comple-tion and the beginning of a new life of healthier eating.

Of the 15 people who attended these class sessions in BrazosCounty, all but two have diabetes. The two who don’t have itdo a lot of the cooking for others who do.

But in either case, “they are here to learn how to cook forthemselves in a more healthful way,” Fonseca says.

This evening Shelly Laaser, a registered dietitian with ThePhysicians’ Centre, is giving the presentation, an overview ofthe course.

She says:• Food items from animals contain cholesterol. One way to

remember that is: “Anything that has a mother has choles-terol—peanuts never had cholesterol.”

• When cooking with oils, use those low in saturated fat, such as corn oil, flaxseed oil, canola oil or olive oil.

• Some people with diabetes also have hypertension (high blood pressure), which is linked to high sodium intake. That’s why limiting salt consumption is also important for healthful eating.

And when it comes to parties, sensible celebrations are justas much fun as the other kind, she says. “Everyone likes agood excuse to celebrate.”

“Does wine count as a fruit?” quips a student, to the laugh-ter of the rest of the class.

“Actually,” Laaser says, “you eventually will be able to work

OPPOSITE: Alice Richter, retired child nutritionist, serves up a plate of MexicanBeef Stir-Fry she prepared while teaching a Cooking Well class. ABOVE, FROM LEFT: A Cooking Well class in Brazos County closes with a reunionthat includes classwork and sampling dishes prepared from the cookbook.Marjorie Beeler (behind computer) learned to choose fruit instead of sweets.Dora Hoskin and Joe Palasota try some of Alice’s stir-fry and other nutritiouslyprepared foods. Frances Ware applies the Cooking Well plate method at home.

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wine into your diet, with the approval of your doctor.”For more sensible celebrations—with or without wine—

Laaser suggests• using herbs and spices instead of butter to season

vegetables,• sautéing vegetables in broth instead of butter,• increasing fiber content in some recipes by using celery

and other vegetables,• using nonstick spray on pans,• broiling meats instead of frying,• using more vegetables and less meat in casseroles, and• using low-fat cottage cheese instead of sour cream.“Little changes make a difference,” she says, and these

changes can be made “a little bit at a time.”Many traditional celebrations can be made more healthful

using recipes with reduced salt, fat and sugar, Laaser says.Other healthful changes include using whole grains, low-fatand low-sodium soups, sugar-free gelatins and puddings, andlow-fat cheese and margarine, she adds.

“You don’t have to tell people [the adjusted recipe] is lowerin fat and all,” she says. “When the event is over and they askfor the recipe, they will be pleasantly surprised.”

Alice Richter, retired director of child nutrition services atBryan Independent School District, takes over when Laaserfinishes her presentation. This evening Richter demonstrateshow to make Mexican Beef Stir-Fry. The recipe is one of about50 available in the new cookbook Cooking Well with Diabetes,published by Extension (see sidebar).

During social time, while class members sample the stir-fryand visit, Fonseca asks each of them to tell the most importantthing they learned from the classes.

The plate method for visualizing portion control tops manylists. The top half of a 9-inch plate is for nonstarchy vegeta-bles; one-quarter is for starches such as potatoes or bread; andthe other quarter is for proteins.

“I learned the plate method,” says student Dora Hoskin,“and I’m getting away from using fatback.”

“Portion size—that’s what counts,” agrees Olga Canales, oneof the attendees.

Marjorie Beeler says she was eating too much sugar before.Now she’s learned to tame that sweet tooth by sampling dif-ferent fruits.

Carolyn and Joe Palasota attend classes together. As the fam-ily cook, Joe says he “learned a lot about eating more fiber andabout portions.” Carolyn learned how spices can dress upsome low-fat recipes.

Betty Williams, who eats many of her meals away fromhome, learned to make healthier choices when dining out.

“This diet is good for everybody, whether they have diabetesor not,” she adds.

Frances Ware is getting more fiber in her diet as well as try-ing to be stricter about portion control.

“Because,” she says, laughing and patting herself on the hip,“I didn’t get this without ‘portion control.’ ”

Cooking Well classes are offered at different times of theyear in different counties.

About four months and 250 miles away, in far northeastTexas, the students in Cass County Extension family and con-sumer sciences agent Pam Lincoln’s class learn about portioncontrol too. They also learn the differences between starchyvegetables, such as potatoes and corn, and the nonstarchyvariety, including spinach, cabbage and carrots.

They have found out the nutritional advantages of wholegrains and brown rice over white rice and white flour, andhow to adjust the nutritional content of recipes using healthysubstitutions. They discovered how preparation can affect thenutrition of foods—how baking or broiling meats are betterchoices than frying.

Lincoln’s advice: “Focus on what you can eat, rather thanwhat you can’t eat.”

ABOVE, FROM LEFT: During a seminar that trains Extension agents to teach CookingWell classes, retired agent Nancy Lester (left) and Tom Green County agentKathy Aycock prepare low-fat goat meat kabobs, while Wharton County agentMarilyn Sebesta demonstrates proper measuring. In a Cass County Cooking Wellclass, a display is used to teach students about the sugar content of differentfoods. Extension agent Pam Lincoln (standing) explains to student SylverineGarner how the diabetic meal plan can also work to lower high blood pressure.

Photos: Jim Lyle and Jerrold Summerlin

Winter 2006

About 15 class members meet with Lincoln at Atlanta HighSchool. They have met for two hours on Tuesday afternoonsfor three weeks before taking a break and gathering togetherone last time for their reunion meeting.

“Most [class members] have diabetes or are doing preventivemaintenance,” Lincoln says.

That includes Stella Washington, who has attended the classto learn how to lower her blood sugar levels.

“I’ve got six months to get it back down,” she says. “I’ve gota lot of family members with diabetes.” To reach her goal, shehas learned to read nutrition and ingredient labels, reduce por-tion sizes, use healthier preparation methods and exercise.

Sylverine Garner doesn’t have diabetes, but she does havehigh blood pressure. “I need the information because I’m try-ing to eat right,” she says.

Lincoln says, “The diabetic meal plan is a good, sound wayof eating for anyone, regardless of whether they have healthproblems.”

For some people with diabetes, that goes double, she says,because “a lot of people with diabetes have one or two otherconditions, such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol.”

Marylouise Allen was diagnosed with diabetes in April. Shedoesn’t have high blood pressure, though, and she wants tokeep it that way.

“I’m learning to control my diabetes by eating properly,” shesays. “So far I’ve lost 14 pounds. I use Splenda [sugar substi-tute] instead of sugar. I like food baked. I exercise. I’ve got atreadmill at home, and I walk a lot at work. I get in a lot ofmiles every day.”

All her students have taken steps in the right direction,Lincoln says. They are eating better, exercising and learning todo everything they can to keep themselves healthy and theirdiabetes under control.

And that’s a good thing because “you don’t want to be in anursing home or dependent on your children,” Lincoln says.

“If you eat well, practice good habits, exercise and take yourmedication, you will control your diabetes, rather than haveyour diabetes control you.”

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Healthy Cooking at HomeSticking to a diet is easier when the recommended foods taste

good. But when a person has diabetes, sticking to a diet could alsobe a matter of life and death.

That’s why, when Texas Cooperative Extension launched its DoWell, Be Well with Diabetes program about three years ago, a cook-ing school—Cooking Well with Diabetes—was included in the plan.Through the program and the cooking school, people with diabetesor their caregivers can learn how to make good-tasting, healthfulfoods the whole family can enjoy.

A panel of Extension experts planning the cooking school also cameup with the idea of developing acookbook with tested recipes fordiabetics, says Dr. MickeyBielamowicz, Extension nutritionspecialist and co-developer of thediabetes education program.

“Members of the committee sub-mitted recipes they had preparedor tested,” Bielamowicz says.“After the recipes were in hand,agents were asked to have themtested in their counties by volun-teers, or they tested them.”

The recipes were also nutrient-analyzed, and adjustments weremade if necessary, she says. A totalof 47 recipes were created, evalu-ated and tested. Then they wereput together in a diabetes cook-book with what Bielamowicz calls “a regional Texas-culture flair.”

The cookbook, Cooking Well with Diabetes, “was planned as aspecial gift for cooking school participants and as a way to reach andpossibly recruit others to participate in the program,” says ElizabethGregory, Extension marketing coordinator in charge of the cook-book’s production and distribution.

“The ‘tastes of Texas’ theme was chosen to add an element of funto the cookbook and to emphasize to readers that even their mostfavorite regional foods can be enjoyed, with some modifications, bypeople with diabetes.”

The recipes in the cookbook (see card for sample) are divided intoseveral categories: Big City Fusion (including some international fla-vors), Cowboy Cuisine, Tejas Spice, Southern Soul, Down-HomeComfort, and Gulf Coast Catch.

Whether they have diabetes or not, anyone can find something tolike in this cookbook, Bielamowicz says.

“Cooking for people with diabetes doesn’t have to be bland, as wehope the cookbook shows,” Gregory says.

Order the cookbook online by visiting the Extension’s bookstore athttp://tcebookstore.org/pubinfo.cfm?pubid=2093. Price is $7 each.

Lifescapes22

The July desert sun already wasrippling distant vision at 8:30 a.m.when Sgt. Bill Gibson arrived at

the garden slightly north of El Paso’sRogelio Sanchez State Prison. Threeinmates surrounded the evidence, talk-ing in low tones as he approached.

“Sarge, look at this,” one of them said.Another extended his carefully cuppedpalm to reveal a baby watermelon, itsside sheared off, its innards craftilydevoured to the rind, save only a fewseeds.

“Sarge,” as Gibson is known, skirtedthe enclosed garden from behind hissunglasses while nary an inmate or visi-tor spoke. He kicked at the metal thatwas buried around the perimeter to pre-vent digging, and then scanned the bird-less sky before meeting the inmates’eyes again.

“Rabbits!” he pronounced with dis-gust.

“Rabbits!” the three inmates noddedin unison.

“Bury that,” Gibson directed of themelon remains. “We’ve got some timefor those seeds to make us anotherplant.”

With that, Gibson was on to a more

puzzling mystery in the neighboring garden.

And it all started in the prison laundryroom. . . .

Vanishing WaterSolving the mystery of vanishing

water, for this lawman, begins wherethousands of gallons wash, rinse andspin into the municipal wastewater sys-tem every day but Sunday, according toWarden Jason Heaton.

It’s a fact of life sure to evoke fear inthe heart of any El Pasoan: Water—thereis a limited supply for the ever-expand-ing population in this desert city and itsneighbor Juarez, Mexico.

Each El Pasoan uses about 155 gallonsof water a day. Across the Rio Grande,folks in Juarez each take about 105 gal-lons of water daily. In addition, El PasoCounty’s $7 billion-a-year irrigated agri-culture industry pulls about 80 percentof the underground supply. And thedemand is soaring, from 350,000 acre-feet a year in 2000 to 450,000 in 2005and a projected nearly 600,000 acre-feetby 2020, according to a Paso del NorteWater Task Force study.

Gibson knows the loss of water wouldmean an end to the 1,000-inmate prison,the loss of jobs and a blow to the localeconomy.

If we lost our water, what would wedo? It was a question that neededanswering. Maybe the answer to anoth-er question would help resolve the case:Could the prison’s laundry water becaptured and applied to the garden toraise food for the inmates?

Investigation BeginsThat’s what brought the prison togeth-

er with an unusual set of investigators.Because the prison already had inmatesworking in horticulture projects at the

nearby Texas Agricultural ExperimentStation, Gibson had his Most WantedScientists list:

Dr. Naomi Assadian: Native ElPasoan. Water management researcher.Passion for recycling.

Dr. Zhuping Sheng: Came to El Pasovia China. Hydrologist with knack formaking every drop of water drip in theright place.

Dr. Nancy Hanks: Seasoned Paso delNorte Watershed Council coordinator.Keen eye for improving area’s ecosys-tem. Considers all the players.

The team also snared Woody Irving, acivil engineer overseeing a $25,000 U.S.Department of Interior Bureau ofReclamation grant that would fund athree-year study.

Their assignment? “Get laundry waterout to the plots and determine if it’s bet-ter for the crops than salty undergroundwater and can be used to produce edibleproducts,” Assadian says. “Laundrywater is ‘gray water.’ That means it’sused wastewater that doesn’t containserious biological contaminants, as doesthe water from flushed toilets.

“Yet, laundry may have sweat andblood, sloughed-off skin and maybeeven some human waste on it,” shenotes. “So, we have to be sure that foodproduced from this water is safe to eat.”

For that reason, she chose for theexperiment crops that do not grow lyingon the ground where they might touchthe water. Instead, the team plantedupward-growing tomatoes, bell peppersand long green chilies in four identicalplots. Irrigation pipe was positioned atthe head of the rows for each 24-by-30-

LEFT: Green chilies are grown as part of an experi-ment to find ways to conserve water throughreuse. OPPOSITE: Officer Curtis Barnes (left), Dr. NaomiAssadian and Sgt. Bill Gibson are surprised by thelushness of garden plots irrigated with gray waterat Rogelio Sanchez State Prison near El Paso.

Case ClosedInmates and scientists capture gray water for green fields

by Kathleen Phillips

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24 Lifescapes

foot plot: Two pipes carried well water;two were for laundry water. A pathwayseparated the plots so that laundrywater could not contaminate the well-watered plots.

Before trickling any laundry waterbetween the garden rows, Assadiansnagged a sample on two occasions andrushed them for analysis to Dr. GeorgeDi Giovanni, environmental microbiolo-gist at the Experiment Station.

“Nothing harmful was found eithertime,” she says. “If anything, theprison’s well water is actually saltierthan the laundry water.” Salt control isas much a concern for the researchers,who want to ensure the land stayshealthy in the long term as well.

The Plot ThickensThe garden, outside the prison’s

northern perimeter, was planted on May3. The first harvest of produce was July22, when a sample of tomatoes, chiliesand bell peppers was taken to the ElPaso Experiment Station for analysis.More and larger fruit were harvestedfrom the plants irrigated with the laun-dry water, according to Assadian, whonoted that planting and harvesting was acollaborative effort between theresearchers and inmates.

“We now need to ensure that toma-toes, chilies and bell peppers are con-taminant-free,” she says. During theexperimental phase, none of the pro-

duce from the plots receiving laundrywater will be eaten.

A trained inmate monitors theimplanted sensors that determine whenand how much water is applied. Usuallyabout 1,000 gallons of laundry water isapplied on Monday, Wednesday andFriday, with a like amount applied fromthe well to the other two plots.

“The plants that survived are gor-geous, but there are skips due to rodentsand insects like the fleahoppers thatcame in carrying curly leaf virus,”Assadian notes. “The plots raised withgray water were doing better, so theinsects went to them. It was like havinga diner sign out saying, ‘We’re servingsteak over here.’ ”

Indeed, because the lush green spaceis literally an oasis in the desert, theresearchers and their inmate assistantshave had to fend off myriad wildlife.

From Gibson’s vantage point, thebiggest hassle is getting the water out ofthe prison and 400 yards away, to wherethe garden adorns the desert sand like a3-acre green quilt. An inmate chargedwith delivering the water provided someanswers. He built a “camel,” so namedbecause its two large, humplike plasticcontainers are encased by metal gratingmounted to a wagonlike cart pulled by atractor. A detachable hose allows waterto be pumped to the irrigation pipes.

“There are some very talented peoplein here,” Gibson says within earshot ofthe inmate who created the camel.

Taking the camel in to fill its tanksand then driving it back out to the plotsrequires a series of security lockdownsfor passage from the laundry area tobeyond the prison’s fence.

Yet, the desert prison has to take therisk to conserve water that will ensureits long-term future, officials say.

Wrapping It UpAll of the project’s players believe

their findings will go at least a step fur-ther in conserving water—not only forthe life of the prison but also for thevitality of the El Paso region.

Irving, the civil engineer, says theReclamation Bureau hopes to get infor-mation that will be useful for othermunicipalities. The experiment atSanchez Prison is the first gray waterproject in El Paso County testing a foodcrop. Only one other gray water trialhas been done in the county—in 1997 ata community center that used waterfrom sinks for landscapes.

Assadian says she knows of no otherinstitutional-scale project for studyingthe use of gray water on food crops inthe United States.

“My philosophy is that if methods toconserve water are too hard, peoplewon’t do it,” she says. “So, we’re look-ing for this project to find an easy wayfor prisons and others to make use ofthis water.”

Warden Heaton, too, says the effortcould prove useful for prisons statewide.

“We need scientists to help us discov-er ways to improve, because we don’thave the expertise in this sort of thing,”he explains.

“Sarge wants us to expand the experi-mental garden,” Assadian says. “I guessthat means it’s a success.”

“Oh, yeah,” Sarge replies.Case closed.

ABOVE, LEFT TO RIGHT: Invented by an inmate, this“camel” transports water from the prison to thegarden plots, where it is used to irrigate vegetableplants in El Paso County’s first water recyclingexperiment conducted using food crops.

Photos: Kathleen Phillips, Jerrold Summerlin

F r o n t i e r s o f D i s c o v e r y

Color and Light: Better Waysto Grow Plants

Texas A&M scientists at The TexasA&M University System AgriculturalResearch and Extension Center atLubbock are seeking better ways forboth commercial vegetable producersand home gardeners to control weedsand grow tastier tomatoes, watermelonsand snap beans.

One aspect of their study is the use ofdifferent-colored plastic mulches to seewhich produce the best results byreflecting light waves onto plants. Dr.Russell W. Wallace, Texas CooperativeExtension vegetable specialist who holdsa joint appointment with the TexasAgricultural Experiment Station, saysplastic mulches warm the soil earlier,promote uniform growth and are a goodtool to use with drip irrigation.

In his 2004 tomato trials, plants grownon silver plastic mulch produced 25 per-cent more fruit than plants grown onbare ground. Plants grown over red plas-tic mulch had a yield advantage of 15percent compared to bare ground, whichis equivalent to black plastic mulch.

“We think the silver mulch reflectsmore light to the plants, which meansmore growth, fewer insects and lesschance of some viruses,” Wallace says.

The researchers are also conductingtrials on herbicides and on biopesticides(natural pest control methods). For moreinformation, visit http://lubbock.tamu.edu/horticulture.

Biomass: Fuel of the FutureA new Texas law signed in August

requires the development of morerenewable energy, and TexasAgricultural Experiment Stationresearchers are responding by seekingways to convert manure from animalfeeding operations to usable heat and, asa result, fuel. Dr. John Sweeten, resi-dent director at The Texas A&MUniversity System Agricultural Researchand Extension Center in Amarillo, saysenergy production has been researchedfor more than 20 years, but “$60-a-barreloil recruits a lot of interest in biomass.”

Scientists are composting raw manurefrom both paved and dirt animal pensand then testing it for several con-stituents, including ash content. Low-ashmanure has about twice the organicmatter and heating value, but thismanure is scarce in commercial feedlots.Another research project involves usingthe by-product combustion ash as a fer-tilizer or construction material.

“By assuring year-round uses ofmanure, the cattle feedyards in this areacould stay current on manure harvest-ing, and the fuel quality of manureimproves with more frequent harvest,”Sweeten says. “An even greater benefit isthat frequent surface-manure harvestingby scraping is an accepted method ofdust control.”

Chemical Cues Attract Mating Ticks

Communication is the key when itcomes to the love life of the Gulf Coasttick, says Dr. Pete Teel, professor of

entomology with the Texas AgriculturalExperiment Station, and some of hisgraduate students at Texas A&MUniversity. Their analysis of tick-countdata from cattle suggests female tickscan identify and attach to cows in theherd with males already attached andwaiting for them, speeding up theirfeeding and mating cycle. Teel also sus-pects the female, after finding her mate,emits a pheromone that suppresses themale’s chemical signal that drawsfemales to him.

“What’s involved is a series of chemi-cal cues, starting with carbon dioxidefrom the cows’ breath and including acologne, or a male pheromone,” thatenables ticks to communicate with eachother, says Teel.

The Gulf Coast tick is a pest of live-stock, particularly cattle, but it alsoaffects wildlife, pastured horses, anddogs, carrying a protozoan that causescanine hepatozoonosis.

Solid-phase microextraction technolo-gy, developed to detect air pollutantsand perform chemical analyses using gaschromatography, was used in conductingthe research.

In addition to the danger it now poses,the Gulf Coast tick was confirmed in2000 as the only consistent U.S. live-stock tick vector of the deadly, untreat-able disease heartwater, which kills byfilling the pericardium in livestock anddeer with fluid.

Teel says he hopes the informationgained from this research can be used toattract ticks to animals, where a pesti-cide could kill them before they had achance to feed.

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27

So what’s in your pocket today—carkeys, a few coins, maybe a crum-pled credit card receipt? How about

a map? If your pocket is made from cot-ton, it does indeed contain a map. Infact, there is a map embedded in everythread and fiber. It’s Mother Nature’sgenetic map, a precise combination ofchromosomes, genes and DNA thatmakes each creature on the planet aunique individual.

Studying and decoding the informa-tion embedded in such maps is thedomain of geneticists and plant breed-ers, who seek to unravel the mysteriesof heritability. Their work often resultsin higher-yielding, stress-resistant plantsthat produce better cotton fiber for theworld at large.

Dr. John Gannaway, a Texas Agricul-tural Experiment Station cotton breederin Lubbock, is one of two traditional, orphenotypic, breeders in a statewide cot-ton breeding program. The other, Dr. C.Wayne Smith, is a professor of plantbreeding and interim head of theDepartment of Soil and Crop Sciences atTexas A&M in College Station.

Phenotypic breeders identify parentplants with traits important to farmersand the cotton industry. They hybridize,or interbreed, these parents and thenevaluate and select progeny plants (off-spring) that have the physical character-istics of both parents. Molecular breed-ers, on the other hand, work at thenuclear level, studying the genetic codethat makes phenotypic expression possible.

“It’s a numbers game, and the num-bers can get to be mind-boggling,” saysSmith. “It takes many years to evaluate

several generations of plants derivedfrom just one cross, or set of parents.Our first customer is the farmer, whowants yield and quality characteristicsthat will bring a premium in the marketplace.

“But our product must have valuebeyond that. New cottons have to havethe fiber qualities that textile mills needto produce longer, stronger yarns forbetter fabrics in order to compete withman-made yarns and fabrics.”

Both breeders work closely with TexasCooperative Extension specialists andagents statewide to “road test” improvedcottons each year in field performancetrials. These cottons are evaluated foryield and fiber quality as well as resist-ance to insects, disease, drought andheat.

Those that prove best in one or moretraits are released as improved germ-plasm, the stock commercial plantbreeders use to develop superior plantvarieties. The very best of the best maybe released as varieties by the Experi-ment Station, and all may be used aselite parent stock for further research.

Narrowing down the numbers toallow more selection and evaluation inless time is where molecular geneticistsenter the picture.

Dr. Robert Wright, an assistant profes-sor of crop genomics with the Experi-ment Station and Texas Tech University,works closely with Gannaway inLubbock. Dr. David Stelly, a professor ofplant breeding and molecular genetics atCollege Station, oversees the CottonCytogenetics Collection and the Labora-tory for Plant Molecular Cytogenetics,which complement Smith’s work andthat of many other scientists.

“A structural geneticist or molecularbreeder studies the biology of inheri-

tance at the nuclear level,” Wright says.“We use laboratory tools to look at thenumber of genes involved in inheri-tance, their chromosomal location andhow they function together. If we knowwhich genes confer positive traits, wecan use molecular tools to screen plantlines more efficiently. In the process, wegain a better understanding of howgenes interact.”

Wright’s laboratory at Texas Tech iscurrently screening improved cottonlines for disease resistance, drought andsalt tolerance, and fiber quality. To date,the lab has mapped six genes thatimpart resistance to bacterial blight andtwo for resistance to black root rot.

“Plant breeding is not a what-you-see-is-what-you-get process,” Stelly says.“Several genes, or gene combinations,can affect how a complex trait such asyield is controlled. The presence ofvaluable genes is often hidden by theeffects of bad ones. Imagine playingcards with a deck that has two suits of30,000 cards each, and two copies persuit. That’s what cotton breeding islike.”

One hand of cards, or even one card,could hold the genetic key to higheryield, finer fiber, pest resistance, or tol-erance to environmental stress.

“Cotton has four sets of chromosomes,not just two like you and me,” Stellysays. “Each set of chromosomes containsabout 30,000 genes. Screening lines forvaluable traits is important, but breed-ers must also hybridize lines and evalu-ate families that descend from eachparental cross. Laboratory technologyallows us to study new and old breedingmethods and determine molecularmarkers for introgression, or the move-ment of genes from one population toanother.”

Winter 2006

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From Field to FabricProducing better fibers and higher yields with hybrid cottons

by Tim McAlavy

OPPOSITE: Dr. C. Wayne Smith “road tests” improvedcottons for possible release as commercial breed-ing stock.

Lifescapes28

Molecular markers are essentiallyroad signs on the genetic map. They sig-nal breeders that a desirable gene liesnearby.

“Molecular markers magnify thepower of hybridization,” Stelly says.“They enable good genes from one lineto be selectively introgressed into anoth-er. Markers and gene differences aremost abundant in wide crosses, somarkers are especially powerful intransferring genes from wild germplasminto cultivated cotton.”

Phenotypic and molecular breedingprograms also serve as a training groundfor graduate students and postdoctoratescientists interested in genetics.Gannaway, Smith, Wright and Stellyeach have several up-and-coming scien-tists learning the ropes in the TexasA&M cotton-breeding program.

Their work encompasses the entirestate of Texas, but reaches far beyond itsborders. They and many other scientistsare collaborating to broaden the globalcotton gene pool.

There are 50 known species of cottonin the world. Only four, in the genusGossypium, produce fibers that can bespun. The vast majority of domestic cot-tons grown worldwide for fiber aredescended from only two of these fourspecies.

“We hit a yield plateau several yearsago, due to lack of genetic diversity,”Gannaway explains. “Before that, everyfive to seven years we were able toachieve a good bump in yield. The genepool has been squeezed tighter through

backcrossing—breeding back within thecommon gene pool. Forward crossing—bringing in new genes from wild cot-tons—may hold the answer. We haveseveral wild cottons growing in green-houses in Lubbock and at CollegeStation just for this purpose.”

Gannaway characterizes his green-house collection of wild cottons as azoo. When the daily grind of the officeand fieldwork gets too hectic, he visitsthe zoo to ponder which of its speci-mens might hold the genes for drought,cold and salt tolerance, pest resistance,or improved fiber and seed qualities.

The USDA’s Agricultural ResearchService facilities in College Stationhouse one of three international collec-tions of cottons. Another resides inFrance, and a third in Uzbekistan.Breeders worldwide are evaluating spec-imens from these collections andexchanging germplasm in their efforts toimprove the cotton genome.

Genome refers to all of the geneticinformation or hereditary material pos-sessed by an organism—its entire genet-ic complement, so to speak.

Scientists are also studying the extentand potential of the cotton genomethrough the International CottonGenome Initiative, chaired by Stelly. Inthe United States, scientists are develop-ing a coordinated national plan to guidecotton genomic research. This is one ofseveral commodity-specific CoordinatedAgriculture Projects (CAPs) funded bythe USDA.

“Texas Tech is the lead institution for

the cotton CAP,” says Wright, proposaldirector for the project. “It involves 28scientists from several universities andthe private sector. If it is approved, wecould see $5 million over four yearspumped into U.S. cotton-genomeresearch.”

Much of the funding for cottonresearch in the United States comesfrom producers and industry. Cottonfarmers and importers contribute a fewdollars for each bale of cotton producedor imported to the Cotton Board, a non-profit entity conceived by growers inthe 1960s to build consumer demandand markets for cotton. A board affili-ate, Cotton Incorporated, supportsresearch and market developmentworldwide with these dollars.

Certified producer groups in each cot-ton-producing state guide CottonIncorporated operations, including allo-cation of research-support fundsthrough several state committees.

Dale Swinburn farms a large acreageof cotton and wheat near Tulia, Texas.He is a member of the Plains CottonGrowers, one of several producer organ-

LEFT TO RIGHT: Cotton breeder John Gannaway evalu-ates wild-cotton specimens that may add geneticdiversity to domesticated cottons. Lab technicianHarriet Bergeron loads a solution containing cottonDNA into an electrophoresis system in Dr. RobertWright’s lab at Texas Tech University. A gel elec-trophoresis sample provides a visual profile of cot-ton DNA (the pink/red squares are DNA fragments).Wright (left) and graduate student Justin O’Donnellprepare samples for studies of cotton genes andinheritance at the nuclear level.

Photos: Tim McAlavy

Winter 2006

izations in Texas, and chairs a commit-tee that helps oversee the Plains CottonImprovement Program, a facet ofGannaway’s cotton research on theTexas High Plains.

“We pay a voluntary per-bale assess-ment each year to support this program,which was started in the early ’80s,”Swinburn says. “When I started farmingin 1965, a good average cotton yieldwas about 500 to 700 pounds per acre.

“Today it’s not uncommon to make1,200 to 1,700 pounds per acre. And weare producing better fiber, too, thanksto cotton researchers. Farmers are driv-en by yield and fiber quality becausemost of our cotton goes to the exportmarket. We have to have fiber qualityto fit that market and to compete withsynthetic fibers.”

“Genetics, fiber quality and fibertechnology are interrelated,” says Dr.Eric Hequet, a cotton breeder and fibertechnologist. He holds a joint appoint-ment with the Experiment Station andTexas Tech and is associate director ofthe International Textile Center inLubbock.

The center is equipped with industri-al-size spinning, weaving, dyeing andfinishing equipment. Its experts con-duct a wide range of fiber research andcan evaluate both raw fibers and thequality of yarns and fabrics producedfrom them.

“Fiber quality is affected by genetics,the growing environment, cultural prac-tices, and harvesting and ginning prac-tices. We have seen much improvement

in fiber quality over just a few yearsago,” Hequet says.

The genetic diversity resulting fromcotton-breeding programs benefits pro-ducers, the textile industry and con-sumers, he says.

“Genetic improvement could lead to awider market and product base for U.S.cotton producers. For the textile indus-try, it means improved fiber qualitiesand greater product diversity,” Hequetsays. “For consumers, it means fineryarns and lighter, stronger fabrics.”

Improvements in cotton genetics andfiber quality also ripple through theglobal economy. According to theUSDA, cotton and cotton textiles areworth more than $20 billion in worldmarkets, more than $5 billion in theU.S. economy, and more than $1.2 billion in farm-gate receipts (gross earnings from the sale of a crop) inTexas alone.

Five new cotton germplasm linesrecently released with Cotton Incorp-orated by breeders at Texas A&M andtwo other universities may raise the“value” bar a little higher.

There is also a social value to cottonthat reaches beyond the dollars andcents of world trade. “Cotton fabricssurround us from birth to death,”Hequet says. “Cotton is the cash cropthat produces spendable income forpeople in many countries. They cangrow much of their own food, but cotton is what pays their taxes, pays for their schools and clothes their children.”

Texas A&M Cotton-Breeding Program Impacts

1974–2005• Release of more than 425 improved germplasm

lines bred for yield, earliness, disease and insectresistance, cold and drought tolerance, staplelength, and fiber quality. Significant recentgermplasm releases include TAM 88G-104, TAM 94L-25 and TAM 96WD-69.

• More than 20 improvedcultivars/varieties devel-oped and released by com-mercial firms, based onimproved germplasm.

• Training/mentoring of morethan 60 graduate students.

• Cooperative, interdiscipli-nary partnerships withother universities, industry,producers, national andinternational agencies.Examples include PlainsCotton Improvement Program, USDA’sCoordinated Agriculture Project for Cotton, andthe International Cotton Genome Initiative.

• Maintenance and screening of wild-cotton acces-sions from several international wild-cotton col-lections targeting drought, cold and salt toler-ance; insect and disease resistance; and improvedfiber and seed qualities.

Grading CottonCotton quality is determined by fiber length,

strength, color, uniformity, and micronaire, a measure of its maturity and fineness. All cotton isgraded for these qualities before it is sold. High-grade cotton commands a premium because it canbe spun into finer, stronger yarns and woven intochoice fabrics on high-speed textile equipment.

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EntrepreneurialSpiritDynamic professor and former students

prepare Aggies to start rural businesses by Helen White

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Winter 2006 31

The students nervously review theirnotes and PowerPoint slides, tryingto control the “butterflies” and chan-

nel the adrenaline into confidence andpoise. It’s a final exam. A competition.Showtime. At stake is much more than acourse grade. The outcome could turn anentrepreneurial dream into a reality.

These agricultural economics studentshave completed a two-semestersequence of capstone courses in ruralentrepreneurship. They have each cho-sen a business venture and developed abusiness plan, and they will now pre-sent it to a panel of bankers, investorsand entrepreneurs.

Their presentations represent a broadcross-section of business ventures: anequine operation, a feed store, cattleorder buying, custom cotton harvesting,real estate, ground and aerial chemicalapplications, and a cow-calf operation.All will benefit from invaluable feed-back and advice from real-world profes-sionals, but the three most outstandingprojects will also receive a monetaryaward to invest in their business start-up.

“These courses are designed so thateach student must gather data anddevelop it into a comprehensive finan-cial plan,” says Dr. Ed Rister, Class of1974, professor and associate depart-ment head for undergraduate programsin the Department of AgriculturalEconomics.

“We expect them to integrate conceptsand analytical tools they’ve learned inother classes. It’s cheaper to lose moneyon paper than it is in the real world.Once you put the pieces together andhave feedback from those who havemade money and mistakes, it’s a valu-able experience. At the end of thecourse, these students have a goodskeleton of a total plan they can use instarting their business.”

Some of the most ardent praise for therural entrepreneurship course comesfrom students who have taken it. Theyare known as “survivors.”

Mark Miller, Class of 1987, seniorvice president and chief credit officerwith Texas AgFinance in Robstown, wasone of the first students to take thecourse and is still involved, giving guid-ance on current banking standards.

“It was the most difficult course I hadat A&M, but I learned more about howit all fits together than in any othercourse,” Miller says. “Since then, I’veseen so many students who have gradu-ated and still miss the big picture. Ifyou’re planning to be self-employed,don’t graduate without taking thiscourse! It’s also a good preparation for acareer in the banking industry.”

Michael Popp, Class of 2002, alsovouches for how useful the rigorouscourse has proved to be. He and hisfather farm cottonand milo and alsoranch in El Campo.“The bankers weworked with thisyear commented onthe thoroughness ofthe information Iprepared,” Poppsays. “All I did wasuse the sameprocess I learned inDr. Rister’s class. Iuse it every day.”

The presentationsbegin, and the expertpanel listens intentlyas the students coverreal-life considera-tions for launchingtheir businesses:costing out insur-ance, anticipatingincome taxes, avoid-ing pitfalls, budget-ing for both businessand living expenseswhile getting a ven-ture up and running, planning for contin-gencies, and evaluating the business’s over-all economic potential. Among the charts,graphs and financial statements, they sharetheir hopes and ambitions. The panelists—among them bankers, lawyers, ranchers,investors, commercial and residential realestate developers, and restaurateurs—offerpraise and straight talk, pointing outstrengths and weaknesses in each presentation.

Students must consult with expertsrelated to their chosen venture when

developing a business plan. They alsopick up advice in the classroom, wherepeople from the business world serve as“professors for a day” and share theirexperiences and insights.

“I explain to the students what I amlooking for when you sit across the deskfrom me to ask for a loan—a traditionalcommercial bank viewpoint,” says RaySmaistrla, Class of 1985, vice presidentand client adviser with JPMorgan Chase& Co. in Houston. “My presentation ismore on cash generation and debtrepayment as opposed to the day-to-dayheadaches of running a business—some-thing different from what they hearfrom other presenters. With diverseopinions from many professionals, thestudents get a broad view of what to be

prepared for, go through an extensivethought process, and learn it’s not thateasy to open a business.”

Murray Edwards, Class of 1973, hasserved as “professor for a day” andenjoys sharing his entrepreneurial expe-riences with the students. He is presi-dent of The Edwards Group in Clyde,Texas, an acquisition search companywith investments in businesses rangingfrom cattle feeding and commodity trad-ing to agricultural equipment rental.

“My entrepreneurial interests were

OPPOSITE: Dr. Ed Rister keeps things relevant for hisstudents by combining class work and real-worldbusiness applications that extend beyond the classroom.ABOVE: Joe Swinbank attributes much of his businesssuccess to the background he gained as an agricul-tural economics major at Texas A&M. Now he is help-ing other Aggies learn to become entrepreneurs.

Lifescapes32

kindled, or I recognized that drive,while I was still a student,” Edwardssays. “I didn’t know what I would do,but I knew I wanted to be my ownboss.”

As a guest lecturer, he tells the stu-dents how he uses his agricultural eco-nomics degree in what he does today.“Accounting, statistics, English, speech,economics—I use them all the time,” hesays. “I tell them these courses are rele-vant and to hang in there. I rememberto this day comments I got from myteachers.”

Edwards and his wife, Kathi, are soimpressed with the relevance of therural entrepreneur classes that theyhave both served as review panelistsand for the past three years have sup-ported the Agricultural EntrepreneurialSpirit Awards given at the end of thecourse with monetary awards for first-,second- and third-place business plans.

“Every year we get more excited abouthow practical and useful these presenta-tions are,” Kathi Edwards says. “It takescourage to stand up in front of profes-sional people. Our hope is that [the win-ners] will put the prize money towardtheir businesses.”

This interface with business profes-sionals is possible because of the finan-cial support from former agriculturaleconomics graduates and the long-terminvolvement of several banks and lend-ing institutions.

To support the student-entrepreneurcomponent of the classes, Joe Swinbank,Class of 1974, has established anendowment to offset expenses for lec-tures, business luncheons and dinnerswith entrepreneurs, travel for field stud-ies of businesses, and educational mate-rials for the classes. Swinbank hasfounded more than 25 businesses sincegraduating from Texas A&M and is cur-rently a partner in 10 Houston-areabusinesses in construction, trucking andenvironmental services.

“I challenge the students to exploretheir dreams,” says Swinbank. “Theseclasses show them how to test their fea-sibility. If their dream proves to beviable, I challenge them to try to do it.And if not, dream up another businessand test it. Owning your own businessis a great opportunity kids need to thinkabout before picking a career.”

Bill Corrigan, Class of 2001, an invest-

ment manager for Merrill Lynch inDallas and a rural entrepreneurshipclass “survivor,” says he wanted to giveback to the class because it taught himso much. Corrigan and The GoddardFoundation, a family charitable trust,have donated support to cover travelexpenses for speakers and panelists.

“The course requirements took a mas-sive amount of time,” says Corrigan. “Iwalked into the class as a student with‘no clue’ and walked out with confi-dence that I could start a business.There is college and class work, andthen there is the reality of implementingthis into the business world. Dr. Risterfuses this connection to turn ‘booksmarts’ into ‘business savvy.’”

Another reason many of the formerstudents give back to the class is toshow appreciation for a professor whoserved as a mentor, expected their best,and who, over the years, has remained afriend.

“Why do I do it? One, it’s a releasefrom what I do at the bank,” Smaistrlasays. “Two, it’s fun—you’re adding valueand the students listen to you. Andthree, Ed Rister was good to me inschool. There’s a loyalty there. He hasbeen the driving force in evolving theclass.”

“Ed Rister is a workaholic with a pas-sion for students’ education,” Millersays. “He expects a lot from thembecause he wants them to really learnand fulfill their dreams when they leaveschool. I have that same kind of passionfor this course.”

“Dr. Rister will always be there foryou as a student,” Corrigan says. “SinceI left school, he has helped me with ourfamily ranching business. He’s the onlyprofessor I have kept in touch with, andthe one I always call when I comethrough town.”

After the last presentation, students andpanelists mingle and visit while waiting tohear which projects will receive awards.Written plans, oral presentations and aca-demic performance throughout the courseall count in the final tally. The break givesthe students time to thank the panelists,breathe a sigh of relief and reflect on whatthey have learned. The panelists linger alittle longer, admiring the potential thesestudents represent before rushing back totheir business world.

2005 AgriculturalEntrepreneurial Spirit

Awards1st place—$2,500 Jerad Johnson, Hereford, TXProject: Cattle OrderBuying/Backgrounding

“I plan to continueexpanding my currentcattle buying and back-grounding operation inthe Brazos Valley. This

class has pulled together the lessons Ilearned in previous classes, helped me tounderstand various financial statements, andallowed me to develop connections that willbe helpful in my future endeavors.”

2nd place—$1,500Jeff Rutland, Lampasas, TX Project: Feed and Supply

Company

“All my life I havewanted to own abusiness. I plan onexpanding mybusiness plan

and hopefully using it one day to startRutland’s Feed and Supply. AGEC 425 hasallowed me to look into a business anddecide what it takes not only to operate it,but also how to make it profitable.”

3rd place—$1,000Andrew Miller, Taft, TXProject: Commercial

Chemical Applicator

“I intend to farm in theCoastal Bend area. Ihave learned how toprepare an in-depth

business plan, to analyze business data andmake educated decisions.”

Students interested in the Department ofAgricultural Economics AGEC 424-RuralEntrepreneurship I and AGEC 425-RuralEntrepreneurship II courses may contact Dr. Ed Rister, (979) 845-3801, e-rister@tamu.edu or visit http://agecon.tamu.edu/undergraduate.

Phot

o: Ji

m L

yle

Innovation &Service

Rauns’ dedication and generosity enrich Texas’ rice industry and communities

by Jay Cockrell

34 Lifescapes

Successful rice farmers L. G. and LindaRaun know something about givingback to their community. It’s just thattheir “community” is a little larger thanmost. The Rauns have made a lifelongcareer of serving not just folks in theirhometown of El Campo, but also thosewithin their industry, as well as the peo-ple of Texas.

L. G. is a third-generation rice farmerwho earned his business administrationdegree from Texas A&M in 1976 while amember of the Corps of Cadets. Hiscourse of study was strongly influencedby his father, Lowell Raun, Class of1950.

“Having grown up in the rice fields, Ialready had a good understanding ofproduction practices,” says L. G., “soDad encouraged me to study the otherpart of agriculture, which is business.”Linda also studied business at TexasA&M, later completing the three-yearWomen in Agriculture BusinessManagement Program sponsored by theuniversity.

After graduation, the couple returnedto El Campo and began rice farmingfull-time. On a trip to the West Coast in1989, they noticed the increasing popu-larity of organic foods. Every grocerystore carried some type of organicallygrown product, either fresh produce orpackaged goods.

As a veteran farmer, L. G. knew aboutrice and had the confidence to tacklethis novel organic production system. A

new variety, Jasmine 85, was just beingreleased by The Texas A&M UniversitySystem Agricultural Research andExtension Center in Beaumont. It wasan aromatic variety, like Indian basmatirice, with excellent vigor, good diseaseresistance and high yields under low-nitrogen conditions.

These qualities made Jasmine 85 idealfor organic production, since organicfarmers may not use synthetic fungi-cides, herbicides and fertilizers. Theyrely instead on cultural practices (suchas intensive water management) to con-trol weeds and on natural fertilizers(such as fish emulsion and compost) toachieve optimum yields.

Today, the Rauns have firmly estab-lished their Lowell Farms logo as a qual-ity source for organic Jasmine rice. Thecolorful packages can be found in hun-dreds of markets, from California toTexas and all the way to the East Coast.With very little paid advertising, thesuccess of their private label can beattributed to many factors, but whatstands out most is L. G.’s ability to growa quality product and Linda’s talent forpublic relations and direct marketing.

Linda Raun is a “people person” withthe qualities necessary to build a busi-ness from the ground up—and the dedi-cation to match. Through countlesstrade shows, county fairs, food exhibi-tions and media interviews, Linda hasintroduced consumers to the LowellFarms product.

L. G. and his brother Tim, A&M Classof 1984, also grow 2,000 acres of con-ventional rice annually, proudly contin-uing the Raun family heritage of ricefarming begun in 1915.

However, farming and business devel-opment are only a fraction of the Rauns’focus. The couple log thousands ofhours in service to their community andthe agriculture industry each year.

Both serve on the College of Agri-culture Development Council. Createdin 1981, the council consists of morethan 100 volunteers dedicated toenhancing cooperation and understand-ing between Texas A&M and the agricul-tural and life sciences community.Members endeavor to attract financialresources to enhance the educationalprograms of the College of Agricultureand Life Sciences. L. G. serves as vicechairman of the council and is proud ofits work in helping students.

“The council has contributed morethan $900,000 toward matching scholar-ships,” he says, “which have an endow-ment market value of over $1.5 million.”

Linda points out that another impor-tant role of the council is to advise Dr.

PREVIOUS PAGE: Successful organic-rice farmers L. G.and Linda Raun are helping support A&M’s riceresearch through planned giving. ABOVE, LEFT TO RIGHT: Linda Raun, who has appeared onthe cover of Woman’s World magazine promotingher rice recipes, is a natural for marketing LowellFarms organic rice. Lowell Farms’ downtown officewindow reflects the small-town charm of El Campo.

Photos: Jim Lyle

Elsa Murano, vice chancellor and deanof the College of Agriculture and LifeSciences, on agricultural issues.

“We keep administration in touch withthe needs of the agriculture industry,”she says, “so that graduates can enterthe workforce with the appropriateskills to best serve agriculture.”

L. G. also served as vice chair of theTexas Agricultural Summit ExecutiveCommittee, a group that organizes annu-al conferences to address such issues asfood safety, water conservation, naturalresources and farm bills.

Water, wildlife and other environmen-tal concerns are important to the riceindustry, which means they’re alsoimportant to the Rauns. Water conserva-tion is fast becoming a critical issue inTexas, especially for rice farmers. Withurban areas demanding more watereach year, farmers are forced to findways to decrease water use.

Precision leveling is one method theRauns have found to be most beneficial.The practice involves using state-of-the-art laser and computer technology toachieve an even grade across large pro-duction fields, so there are no high andlow spots.

With precision leveling, L. G. canbring in a successful crop with only 26

inches of water per acre, as opposed tothe 40 to 50 inches necessary withoutthis technology. Permanent flood can beestablished throughout the field at auniform depth of 2 to 3 inches, which isdeep enough to suppress weeds but notso deep as to waste valuable water ordamage young plants.

Beyond their own farm, the Raunshave worked tirelessly to help promotewater conservation throughout Texas. L. G. serves with the Lavaca RegionalWater Planning Group, which is part ofthe Texas Water Development Board’s16 regions working to develop onewater plan that will serve Texans inboth urban and farming communities.

He also serves as vice president of theCoastal Bend Groundwater Conserva-tion District, which manages and con-serves groundwater supplies within theregion. Linda was recently appointed byGov. Rick Perry to serve a six-year termas Wharton County representative onthe Lower Colorado River AuthorityBoard.

Regarding broader environmentalissues, L. G. is a founding member andtreasurer of the Texas Rice IndustryCoalition for the Environment, anorganization created by producers andindustry representatives to increase pub-lic awareness of the value of conserva-tion efforts and aid farmers who wish toestablish wetland sanctuaries on theirfarms. Linda, a graduate of the riceindustry’s leadership development pro-

gram, is one of President Bush’s fiveappointees to the Farm Service Agency’s(FSA’s) State Committee for Texas. TheFSA is a branch of the U.S. Departmentof Agriculture.

Closer to home, the Rauns serve theirlocal community in many areas, includ-ing business development and expan-sion, library enrichment, and as eldersof the First Presbyterian Church of ElCampo.

As a Corps of Cadets alumnus, L. G.puts great emphasis on Aggie-relatedactivities, including membership in the12th Man Foundation. Linda and L. G.are also members of the Association ofFormer Students and have been CenturyClub members since 1974.

Recently, the Rauns have gone evenfurther to support the university with aplanned gift from their estate that willestablish the Linda and L. G. RaunScholarship Fund in the College of Agri-culture and Life Sciences. In addition,the gift will fund a rice research pro-gram for the Texas Agricultural Exper-iment Station facility in Eagle Lake.

Dr. Ted Wilson, director of theExperiment Station rice research centersat Beaumont and Eagle Lake, says, “Thistype of dedication and commitment istypical among Texas Aggies, but Lindaand L. G. Raun have gone above andbeyond to demonstrate their desire tobenefit the agriculture industry and pro-tect the natural resources of Texas.”Web site: www.lowellfarms.com

Winter 2006 35

ABOVE, LEFT TO RIGHT: After waiting for moisture toevaporate from the fields, L. G. Raun maneuvers acombine into position to begin harvesting. A “sec-ond cutting,” one of two harvests per season,increases the yield of Jasmine 85 at Lowell Farms.

G i v i n g M a t t e r s

36 Lifescapes

Smiths Create AgriculturalLeadership Endowment

The Charles B. and Jean G. SmithEndowed Scholarship for AgriculturalLeadership was recently establishedwith a $50,000 gift for undergraduate stu-dents pursuing an agricultural develop-ment major.

The Smiths have a long friendship withTexas A&M and a history of helpingyoung people. Through their cattle andranching business, they have workedwith the Department of Animal Sciencestudents’ cattle judging activities, withmany Department of Animal Science pro-fessors and researchers, and in the cattleindustry with the Charolais Juniors youthorganization. Both of their granddaugh-ters, Heather Miller Halliburton, Class of2000, and Kristen Ditta, Class of 2005,graduated from A&M. Through them theSmiths learned about the Department ofAgricultural Education’s agriculturaldevelopment major in leadership devel-opment.

“In agricultural development, the stu-dents participate in a variety of leader-ship experiences to bridge school and theworld of work,” says Dr. Chris Town-send, head of the department. “Theimportance of the generosity of scholar-ships like this is that they sometimesmean the student doesn’t have to work asecond part-time job and can concentrateon academics and leadership.”

“We’re sold on A&M, the people we’veworked with, and we believe in educa-tion,” says Charlie Smith.

Jean Smith says working with youthhas been one of her greatest joys and ispart of what motivated her to give toA&M. “Our hearts are with the youngpeople, to help them get a degree so theycan make their way in life,” she says.

Scholarship Endowed forNutrition and Food Science

The Karen M. Gremminger ’87 andS. Mark Bullard Endowed Scholarshipfor undergraduate students in the newDepartment of Nutrition and FoodScience has been established with a$100,000 gift from Karen Gremminger,Class of 1987, and her husband, S. MarkBullard.

Gremminger, who graduated from

Texas A&M with a bachelor of sciencedegree in food science and technology,went on to graduate from Texas TechUniversity Medical School in 1991 and tocomplete an internship and residency ininternal medicine. She now specializes inhematology/oncology. Gremminger saysgratitude led her and her husband toestablish scholarships at their respectiveundergraduate universities. “My husbandand I decided that since we benefitedfrom other people’s generosity [as under-graduates], this would be the way torepay our debt to the university and tohelp other students.”

The S. Mark Bullard Scholarship atDartmouth College is also based on a$100,000 donation and is part of that uni-versity's general scholarship fund. Thestudents who receive these scholarshipswill be chosen by a committee, based onacademic achievement, extracurricularactivities and financial need, according toDr. Michael McBurney, head of theDepartment of Nutrition and FoodScience. Applications for the scholarshipwill be accepted beginning in springsemester 2006. More information will beavailable on the department's Web site athttp://nfs.tamu.edu. Currently, 472 stu-dents are enrolled in the department.

COADC and Gilbreath FamilyDevelop Scholarship

Charlotte and Zay Gilbreath, Class of 1962, have created the COADC–Gilbreath Family Endowed Scholar-ship with a $25,000 gift, which will bematched with a $25,000 gift from theCollege of Agriculture DevelopmentCouncil (COADC), for a total of $50,000for students enrolled in the College ofAgriculture and Life Sciences, especiallythose from Castro, Hansford or otherTexas Panhandle counties.

“I wanted to help students from thePanhandle area since I grew up in CastroCounty and my wife and I have lived,worked and reared our family in Hans-ford County for a significant part of ouradult lives,” says Zay Gilbreath. Gilbreathretired from Caprock Industries, a divi-sion of Cargill, Inc., as president and gen-eral manager of cattle-feeding operations.He says love of Texas A&M runs strongin the Gilbreath family, and he namedthe scholarship to honor his wife, Char-

lotte; son Mark; son Gary, Class of 1984;son Alan, Class of 1995; and his father, J. C. “Sam” Gilbreath, Class of 1931.

“The cost of education has skyrocket-ed,” says Dr. Joe Townsend, associatedean of the College of Agriculture andLife Sciences. “We appreciate those whoare willing to help make it possible forstudents to complete their education.”

Gilbreath says an important part of hisconsideration in creating the scholarshipwas the chance to partner with theCOADC matching gift program. TheCOADC is a volunteer organization thatsupports the College of Agriculture andLife Sciences by attracting financial re-sources to enhance educational programs.

Horticultural SciencesScholarship Honors Reese

To commemorate their father’s love ofeducation and Texas A&M University, thelate Clyde Allan Reese, Class of 1979,and Cynthia Reese Nethery, Class of1974, created the Joel Ray Reese ’50Endowed Scholarship in HorticulturalSciences. After majoring in horticulture,Joel Reese, Class of 1950, was an Exten-sion agent in Coleman and Bastrop coun-ties and worked for the Veterans LandBoard and the Farmers Home Admini-stration.

“A&M meant everything to my father,”says Cynthia Nethery. His Aggie legacyextends not only to his children, but alsoto his grandchildren, Nicholas Nethery,Class of 2003, and Amanda Nethery,Class of 2007.

“He was proud that he went to A&Mand believed strongly in giving other peo-ple a chance to get an education,” ClydeReese said in an interview before hisdeath in Dec. 2005. “This scholarship is away his name can be remembered, andhe is still helping someone go to A&M.”

The $25,000 gift establishes a scholar-ship for undergraduate students pursuinga degree from the Department ofHorticultural Sciences. Recipients will beselected on the basis of academicachievement, extracurricular activitiesand financial need.

“We appreciate Clyde and Cynthia’sgenerosity and treasure the educationalopportunity this scholarship will makepossible for our students,” says Dr. TimDavis, head of the department.

You Make a Difference at A&M!

IDEAS.FUTURES.

Bright

Bright

A committed partnership between the Texas Rice ResearchFoundation and Texas A&M Agriculture researchers is literallyreaping benefits for the $450 million Texas rice industry. The B. Jack Wendt Texas Rice Research Foundation Chairat The Texas A&M University System AgriculturalResearch and Extension Center at Beaumont was estab-lished in 1999 to explore ways to improve the profitabil-ity of rice production and study how its productionaffects the environment.

“Research is the future of the Texas rice industry,”says Dr. Ted Wilson, B. Jack Wendt chair holder andresearch director at the Beaumont center. “We’re looking in greaterdetail at such questions as which plant growth characteristics resultin particular varieties having better yield and why some varietiesare more sensitive to injury by insect pests. The endowment fundsare also used to help create a long-term rice rotation study aimedat determining how best to utilize increasingly limited land andwater resources.”

The chair is named in honor of Jack Wendt, a longtime rice pro-ducer who has served the Texas Rice Research Foundation and therice industry in numerous leadership roles.

“The endowment provides extra funds for research, and theresults of that research keep growers up-to-date on the latest vari-eties and technologies available,” says Wendt, who planted his 64th

crop this year. The $1.5 million endowed chair was cre-ated with a $500,000 contribution from the Texas RiceResearch Foundation, which was matched by the H. R.“Bum” Bright Matching Chair Program and theCollege of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

When industry and research work side by side, theyhelp protect our environment and find better ways toserve our communities and our world.

For information on One Spirit One Vision–The Texas A&M

Campaign giving opportunities in agriculture and life sciences,please contact the Texas A&M Agriculture Development Office at(979) 847-9314 or by e-mail at apdo@ag.tamu.edu.

Texas A&M Agriculture Development Office2142 TAMUCollege Station, Texas 77843-2142http://giving.tamu.edu

NON PROFIT ORG.U.S. Postage

P A I DADDISON, TXPermit No. 6

2142 TAMUCollege Station, TX 77843-2142

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Conserving Our Natural ResourcesA West Texas sunset deepens the colors of a desert landscape alongthe Rio Grande near El Paso. Texas A&M Agriculture scientists areworking with Rogelio Sanchez State Prison there to find ways to con-serve increasingly scarce water supplies by reusing gray water to growvegetables (see story on page 22).