The Feb. 2024 Land-Grant Ledger

February 2024 | Issue No. 15

The Land-Grant Ledger Tennessee State University College of Agriculture

TSUAg Hosts USDA Southern Research Station HBCU Research Summit (page 7)

Dean’s Message:

Inside this Issue: Dean’s Message

Dear friends and supporters, Greetings from the Tennessee State University College of Agriculture! At this point in the semester, our students have long since settled into their classes and will soon embark on the adventure that is midterm exams. I would like to wish good luck to our students with their exams in the coming weeks.

In this issue of the Land-Grant Ledger, we celebrate some exciting events happening in the College over the past four weeks. There is one event that stands out for its relevance and national importance. The College hosted the HBHU and USDA Forestry Department’s Research Summit in early February. We were excited to welcome Dr. Homer Wilkes, the Under Secretary, USDA for this event along with leaders from the Southern Research Station and participating HBCU institutions. Read more about it on page seven.

I am so thrilled to talk about Mr. Finis Stribling, a highly regarded colleague.

Finis is a longtime, loyal team member here at the College of Ag., and as the Director of both our Small Farm Expo and the New Farmer Academy, he is an important cog in our wheel. Finis recently received Farm Credit Mid-America’s inaugural Community Excellence Award for his outstanding contributions to the small farm community here in Tennessee. Read more about him on page three. Congratulations Finis!

Our extension agents continue to excel with great programming; several agents’ successes from the past are documented in this issue. Enjoy this issue of the Land-Grant Ledger! We’ll see you next month!

GRYFN Alta X Drone Students Visit the Capital Finis Stribling Wins Farm Credit Award Hardeman County Extension Update Davidson County Extension Update Hamilton County Extension Update Knox County Extension Update Cannon County Extension Update Dr. Ben Gutierrez Climate Talk Dr. Elizabeth Williams Carbon in Soils Talk USDA SRS HBCU Research Summit

Sincerely, Dean Chandra Reddy February 2024 Newsletter | College of Agriculture

Research

TSUAg Upps its Drone Game with New GRYFN Alta X Drone TSUAg Research Associate Professor Dr. Anjin Chang hosted Ryan Riley from GRYFN drones and a group of more than 25 TSUAg graduate students for two days training and test flights of the College’s new multi-modal GRYFN Alta X drone earlier this month. The drone is capable of producing high-resolution RGB, LiDAR and hyperspectral data simultaneously. Students spent time learning about the hardware, flight planning with the software, and collecting data. The GRYFN data management software provides enterprise-ready datasets and analytics of multi-modal, multi-temporal data for plot and plant-scale phenomic insights to drive actionable agriculture decisions. TSUAg purchased the drone with grant funds last summer but it was only delivered to campus a couple of weeks ago. Tests and demonstrations complete, Dr. Chang expects to begin drone flights with students for data collection this spring.

TSUAg Research Associate Professor Dr. Anjin Chang and Ryan Riley from GRYFN Drones present on the operation of the College’s new GRYFN Alta X drone to a group of more than 25 TSUAg graduate students. The group gathered for two days of training with Riley.

TSUAg’s Brown, Curry Lobby and Present for Posters at the Capitol

TSUAg Environmental Science majors and juniors Avion Brown and Semira Curry took time out of their Posters at the Capitol schedule to speak with lawmakers at the Capitol including Gov. Bill Lee, with whom the students spoke on the Capitol steps.

February 2024 Newsletter | College of Agriculture

TSUAgEnvironmental Science majors and juniors Avion Brown and Semira Curry joined a cohort of seven TSU students who showcased some of their undergraduate research projects to state government leaders for the Posters at the Capitol event earlier this month. TSUAg students took the opportunity to do a little lobbying while they were there, speaking with Gov. Bill Lee and other legislators including TSU alumnus and State Representative Harold M. Love, Jr. about TSU’s funding, the Board of Trustees decision, and the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. Posters at the Capitol is an annual event that brings the top undergraduate research students from each public university in Tennessee to the Capitol, where they present posters describing their research findings to legislators.

Extension

Stribling Named Winner of Farm Credit Mid-America’s Community Excellence Award TSUAg’s Finis Stribling III was recently named the recipient of Farm Credit Mid-America’s inaugural Community Excellence Award. This award recognizes a community leader, agricultural professional or volunteer who belongs to a community-based agricultural organization and is creating pathways for the next generation of agriculture. Stribling has worked for Tennessee State University Extension for nearly 30 years and currently serves as director of the Tennessee New Farmer Academy and Small Farm Expo. Throughout his career, Stribling has addressed the challenges that small farmers face while ensuring they have the necessary resources to be successful.

Stribling was recognized as the winner of the 2023 Community Excellence Award at Farm Credit Mid-America’s Know to Grow conference held January 30-31 in Indianapolis, IN. Along with the commendation, Stribling received a small cash prize as the winner of the award. “Finis has built an impressive career meeting the needs of new and beginning farmers across Tennessee, and he is incredibly deserving of this award,” said Marcus Tyler, emerging ag business development manager for Farm Credit Mid-America.

TSUAg New Farmer Academy and Small Farms Expo Director Finis Stribling III was recently named the recipient of Farm Credit Mid-America’s inaugural Community Excellence Award.

UT-TSU Hardeman County Extension Agent Clint Plunk attended the Master Farm Manager Class in Jackson, TN on Feb. 12, where producers gained some knowledge on the business side of farming.

Hardeman County Abuzz with Winter Ag. Meetings February has been a busy month for UT-TSU Hardeman County Extension Agent Clint Plunk, who has been here, there, and everywhere of late, attending winter crop and agricultural meetings. Plunk represented the Tigers at the well-attended Feb. 1 West TN Grain Conference in Dyer County, the Cotton Focus meeting on Feb. 7 put on by UT cotton specialist Dr. Tyler Raper, and the Hardeman/Fayette Winter Production Meeting on Feb. 9, where a trio of specialists from UT led winter discussions on corn, soybean and cotton production. Plunk also attended the joint county Master Farm Manager class held in Jackson on Monday, Feb. 12th, where business principles of farming were covered, and the Feb. 13 Hardeman/Fayette Weed Control Meeting, where weed specialist, Dr. Larry Steckel gave the latest information on controlling the threat of weed pests in row crop fields.

February 2024 Newsletter | College of Agriculture

Extension

Davidson County SNAP-Ed Brings “DormDash” to Sigma Gamma Rho Davidson County TSU SNAP-Ed Agent Angela L. Settles spoke to the Nashville-based Upsilon Sigma chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority at Humphries Hall on the TSU campus on Feb. 3, addressing the group on the topic of choosing more fruits and vegetables for a healthy heart in conjunction with National Heart Month. The ladies made “DormDash” breakfast banana split and the “DormDash” broccoli salad utilizing recipes that they could take home to their families. “DormDash” is an outreach program created

by TSU’s SNAP-Ed team to build relationships using outreach through Tennessee State University’s email communications. This program has provided simple recipes for those without access to a full kitchen. SNAPEd is providing the marketing and indirect education and the USDA NIFA-sponsored Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) is providing direct education classes to transitioning young adults who meet the income threshold for the program.

Davidson County TSU SNAP-Ed Agent Angela Settles has had a busy month, speaking on healthy eating to several groups including the members of the Upsilon Sigma chapter of the Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, with whom she made “DormDash” recipes.

Hamilton County 4-H Robotics Team Takes 2nd at FTC Event On December 16, the Hamilton County 4-H Robotics Club won 2nd place in a scrimmage against 8 other FIRST Technical Challenge (FTC) robotics teams at Webb School of Knoxville. The Club’s team, the 4-H Gear Grinders, meets at the UT-TSU Extension Office, Hamilton County weekly from September to February to design, build, and program robots (twice a week when competitions approach). The team is made up of 7th through 12th graders from across Hamilton County with an interest in robotics/engineering. The team is led by adult volunteer coaches who are parents or community volunteers who have become level three 4-H volunteers. This requires passing background and reference checks, as well as receiving training in child protection and youth development. The team looks forward to the State FTC Championship March 2 at Middle Tennessee State University.

Hamilton County’s 4-H “Gear Grinders” robotics club team members Kyler Loynd, Sam Thompson, John Wood, Brock Taylor and Logan Payne work with team mentor Joshua Simpson to prepare the robot for competition at the December 16 FTC Webb School Scrimmage in Knoxville.

February 2024 Newsletter | College of Agriculture

Extension

Master Gardener Intern Training Kicks off in Knox County The Knox County master gardener intern training program kicked off on Jan. 10. The weekly, inperson training program gets together at the Eastern Region Extension Office, where it prepares students to volunteer in the community as Master Gardeners. There are currently 36 students and four non-master gardener auditors in the training program. UT-TSU Knox County Extension Agent Rylan Thompson takes part in the training program, which is assisted by the Knox County Intern Training Committee, a group that helps facilitate the planning and implementation of the training, as well as providing mentorship and advising to the students.

Knox County Master Gardener Intern Training volunteers and TSU Extension agent Rylan Thompson (left), deliver supplies to students on January 3. From left Rylan Thompson, Chris Bishop, Rosanne Smith, and Maria Hurt. Photo credit: KCMG President, Cori Holmes.

Cannon County’s New Agent Hits Ground Running on Drug Prevention

UT-TSU 4-H Youth Development Extension Agent Jaclyn HareSmith took time in January to speak to fifth graders at Cannon North Elementary School about the dangers of smoking and vaping.

UT-TSU 4-H Youth Development Extension Agent Jaclyn Hare-Smith has had a big first month on the job, dedicating herself in January to Drug Abuse Prevention Month in Cannon County. Hare-Smith visited local elementary and middle schools in the county during January to have interactive sessions with students. In the fourth-grade classrooms she visited, Hare-Smith talked about the impacts of both healthy and unhealthy stress and healthy ways to cope and handle it. In the fifth-grade classrooms, she led discussions on smoking and vaping, doing a neat exercise with straws showing the potentially harmful effects they can cause like COPD and emphysema. In the middle school classrooms she visited, Hare-Smith led talks on the harmful effects of alcohol and other substances and used “drunk goggles” for an interactive experience.

February 2024 Newsletter | College of Agriculture

Academics

Dr. Ben Gutierrez came to campus earlier this month to present a seminar on climate change. Dr. Gutierrez also made some class visits, including this one with the Agriculture Science 3540 class.

Gutierrez Visits Campus for Climate Talk In the latest instance of TSUAg dedicating itself to being a campus where substantive discussions about climate change research take place, the College brought in guest speaker Dr. Ben Gutierrez of the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program based at the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center in Woods Hole, MA earlier this month for a seminar on the topic as seen through the lens of oceanic data. Dr. Gutierrez spoke on the topics of rising oceans, coastal erosion, and his research project, the Coastal Change Project. Dr. Gutierrez spoke in several settings, addressing a packed classroom at the Agriculture Information Technology Center on TSUAg’s sub-campus, in addition to stopping by a couple of classrooms to speak on some of his and the USGS’ research on rising oceans and climate change data.

TSUAg Welcomes USGS’ Williams for Carbon in Soils Talk TSUAg welcomed U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) physical scientist Dr. Elizabeth Williams to campus earlier this month for a seminar she gave titled “The Petrogenic Carbon Problem in Soils.” Dr. Williams presented the seminar in TSUAg’s Agriculture Information Technology Center (AITC), addressing the room about her time conducting research as the head of the USGS’ Earth Systems Biogeochemistry Lab. Dr. Williams was able to give the room, particularly the students in attendance, a taste of how one navigates a research position with a governmental scientific research organization, offering up both her own work and advice on a career in research. The event was held as part of TSUAg MANRRS’ Professional Development Speaker Series and sponsored by the Department of Environmental Sciences. Dr. Tom Byl introduced Dr. Williams to a packed house at the AITC.

February 2024 Newsletter | College of Agriculture

USGS physical scientist Dr. Elizabeth Williams came to campus earlier this month to present a seminar titled “The Petrogenic Carbon Problem in Soils.”

Academics

TSUAg hosted USDA Under Secretary of Agriculture Dr. Homer Wilkes for the SRS-HBCU Research Summit, along with USDA Southern Research Station Director Dr. Toral Patel-Weynand and leaders from a handful of HBCUs who took part in the event.

TSUAG Hosts USDA Southern Research Station HBCU Research Summit TSUAg hosted the USDA Forest Service-Southern Research Station HBCU Research Summit earlier this month, commemorating 30 years of research, partnership, and collaboration among the USDA, Southern Research Station (SRS), and HBCUs engaged in agricultural research. The 2024 SRSHBCU Research Summit welcomed USDA Undersecretary Homer Wilkes as a special guest. Wilkes’ participation provided additional opportunities for sharing partnering successes, exploring challenges and intersections, and fostering ongoing collaboration.

Held on campus in various College of Agriculture buildings, the event featured SRS Director Dr. Toral Patel-Weynand, presentations on the university’s history and its SRS partnership, and a panel discussion on future collaborations. Sessions throughout the day mapped out future interactions between research universities and their government counterparts at the USDA. This marks the second consecutive year the College of Agriculture has hosted the summit in collaboration with SRS and the USDA, showcasing the institution’s commitment to fostering relationships with government agencies.

The USDA Forest Service-Southern Research Station HBCU Research Summit, held at TSUAg’s AITC building, brought together leaders from the USDA with the HBCU agricultural research community for a day of discussions, breakout sessions, and planning.

February 2024 Newsletter | College of Agriculture

Editor/Writer: Charles Morrison Graphic Designer: Christina Jacob

Phone/Fax: 615-963-7561 Website: www.tnstate.edu/ agriculture

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