Rains greened up pastures during February, such as this one in East Texas. However, in many areas the green up was mainly cosmetic, and producers were still buying hay from out of the area as the spring calving season continued, according to Texas AgriLife Extension Service personnel. (Texas AgriLife Extension Service photo by Robert Burns)

COLLEGE STATION – Most of the state received rain the third week of February, further greening up pastures and winter wheat, according to reports from Texas AgriLife Extension Service personnel.

In some cases, the rains stimulated the growth of winter grasses and small grains to the extent that it relieved the pressure on extremely limited hay supplies.

However, in most areas, livestock producers still had to provide supplemental feed and hay to cattle. In many areas the hay they fed continued to come in from out of state.

Two-minute MP3 audio Texas crop, weather report for Feb. 22, 2012

“Wheat, oats and winter pastures continue to do very well with the rains and mild temps,” said Rick Maxwell, AgriLife Extension agent for Collin County, northeast of Dallas. “Cattle producers continue to graze winter annual pastures, which has cut down the use of hay, which is still in short supply.”

“Recent rains have stimulated cool-season annuals to start to sprout, and it’s nice to see some green in the pastures for a change,” said Logan Lair, AgriLife Extension agent for Navarro County, northeast of Waco. “For the most part, supplemental feeding is still going on around the county for beef cattle, mainly hay.”

“Good rains were received over most of the area this past week, and winter pastures were growing well,” said Hugh Soape, AgriLife Extension agent for Gregg County, Longview. “Many are still overgrazed. Cattle are beginning to rebound in some areas where they are not overstocked. Hay and feedstuff was still in short supply and expensive.”

“(We had) up to 0.5 inch of rainfall on Wednesday (Feb. 15),” reported Rick Hirsch, AgriLife Extension agent for Henderson County, Athens. “Muddy conditions are hampering field preparation for spring planting. Cool-season grazing was decreasing the need for hay which is severely short in supply.”

“We are moving moisture up to adequate,” said Neal Alexander, AgriLife Extension agent for San Saba County, north of San Antonio. “However, San Saba County has not progressed into non-drought conditions. It is a long way to the truck for our small-grain crop, and without a hay crop this year, we remain in a disaster. Yearling cattle are doing well. Small grains are keeping up with them so far.”

“Up to 1 inch of rain fell in the county last week,” said Joe Janak, AgriLife Extension agent for Victoria County, northeast of Corpus Christi. “The cropping area, which is about 40 percent of the county, is still short of moisture, having had less than 3 inches in the last three months. There is sufficient moisture to get the crops up but not to full production. Green forage is becoming apparent, but is still in short supply for grazing. It’ll take many days for full forage growth. Hay is still being fed.”

More information on the current Texas drought and wildfire alerts can be found on the AgriLife Extension Agricultural Drought Task Force website at http://agrilife.tamu.edu/drought/ .

AgriLife Extension district reporters compiled the following summaries for Feb. 14 – 21.

The 12 Texas AgriLife Extension Service Districts.

East: As much as 4 inches of rain fell across the region. With this and recent rains, and warmer- than-normal temperatures, winter forages continued to improve. Some producers were able to graze cattle, but many were still having to buy hay from other areas. Pond and lake levels were much better. The calving season was ongoing. Feral hog activity remained high, and there were reports of armyworms.

Far West: Precipitation in various forms yielded accumulations from 0.1 to 0.5 inch over most of the region. The moisture was received in the form of drizzle, rain, sleet and even some light snow. Val Verde County was the exception, where there were reports of as much as 2 inches in some areas. The cold front also brought very damp and windy conditions. Most areas experienced light to heavy fog and dew in the mornings. Low temperatures were in the 30s, with highs in the 50s and 60s. Areas that were bare ground due to drought and fire showed some regrowth in some counties. Others counties reported that pastures remained depleted. Overall, however, pasture and rangeland conditions remained very poor throughout the region. The condition of livestock was still generally poor. Most producers were in the calving season and still had to provide supplemental feed. They still found it hard to find alfalfa. When they can find it, the price is extremely high. Cotton farmers were putting down pre-emergent herbicide in preparation for planting warm-season wheat. Chile growers were preparing land for planting, with many fields already listed and pre-irrigated. Fall-planted onions came out of dormancy.

North: Fields remained too wet to even start preparations for planting. With frequent rains during the past month, wheat, oats and winter pastures continued to do very well. Producers continued to graze cattle on winter annual pastures, cutting down the use of hay that is still in short supply. Winter weeds were growing like crazy, with henbit in particular out of control. Trees were budding early, a concern for the fruit growers. Feral hogs continued to be a major problem.

Panhandle: The weather varied from mild to extremely cold. Soil moisture continued to be mostly short to very short. A few areas reported receiving some moisture. Farmers continued preparing fields for spring planting and were actively irrigating wheat. Most winter wheat was in fair to poor condition. Rangeland and pastures were in fair to very poor condition, with most reporting poor to very poor. Those producers who didn’t liquidate their herds during the drought began the spring calving season. They also continued providing supplemental feeding as rangeland grasses were sparse and wheat pasture was short.

Rolling Plains: From 2 to 5 inches of snow fell across the region. The moisture was welcome, but the western counties needed more to recover from the drought. Most winter wheat seemed to turn around overnight and grow a couple of inches. In the eastern counties, which have received more rain over the last few weeks, soil moisture was at surplus levels. The rains also filled most stock tanks, and the eastern counties were going into spring in much better condition than last year at this time. Livestock were in fair to good condition, pastures were greening up, with winter annuals furnishing needed grazing. Producers needed to feed less hay as a result. Cotton farmers were preparing land for planting. Parker County reported that peach trees began to bloom early.

South: Rain, mostly scattered showers, fell throughout the region. Atascosa County received about 2 inches, Kleberg and Kenedy counties, 2 to 4 inches, and Willacy County about 1 inch. Surrounding counties received slow precipitation and light drizzle amounting to 0.1 to 0.2 inch. Rangeland and pastures improved even where the rains were light, and were providing much-needed grazing. Soil-moisture conditions ranged short to adequate in the northern and eastern counties. In Frio County, some farmers were planting early corn. In Zavala County, spinach, cabbage and onions were all progressing well. In Hidalgo County, field crop activities were slowed by wet conditions, but some farmers continued pre-irrigating row-crop fields. Wet conditions also halted spring planting preparations in Starr County. In Willacy County, farmers were preparing to plant.

Southeast: Many areas received good rains, with some, such as Jefferson County, reporting several inches. Nighttime temperatures were in the low 40s; daytime highs in low-to-mid 60s. The rains were welcomed, though it slowed land preparation for spring planting. Pond levels continued to rise with the recent rains, with many full. Winter pastures were only in fair condition where they had to be planted late because of lack of moisture last fall. A very few were planted late December after the rains started and were in better condition.

Southwest: Additional rain produced excellent winter-pasture growth. Small grains made good progress. There were some reports of bloat in livestock due to excessive clover growth. The planting of corn and milo was delayed by the wet weather.

South Plains: Snow, sleet and light rain fell across the region. Measurable moisture ranged from a trace to 0.5 inches. This moisture benefited wheat and was expected to allow producers to do tillage work and reduce blowing sand. Much more moisture will be needed before spring planting can commence. Cool-season grasses on the range began to grow in low-lying areas. Livestock was in mostly fair to good condition with producers continuing to provide supplemental feed.

West Central: All parts of the district reported cooler temperatures along with snow and rain showers. Small grains remained in fair condition due to recent moisture. Wheat continued to improve and was providing very good growth for grazing. Rangeland and pastures also continued to show great improvement. Improved grazing conditions reduced the need for heavy supplemental feeding of livestock. However, livestock numbers remained very short. Fruit growers were pruning trees.

-30-

The Texas AgriLife Extension Service nature tourism field course in Costa Rica gives nature and ecotourism business professionals from the U.S. and other countries the ability to learn from how nature tourism businesses in Costa Rica manage their operations. (Texas AgriLife Extension Service photo by Miles Phillips)

“Participants included tour company owners, landowners, city officials and consultants,” said Phillips, an AgriLife Extension nature tourism specialist who leads the international field course program. “They represented not only Texas, but also Minnesota, Iowa and South Carolina. Plus we also had some participants from Canada.”

Phillips said the field course is “a top-notch educational experience that includes interesting activities for the participants while providing first-hand knowledge” of various successful nature-tourism operations in that country.

“During the program, we visit such locations as diversified farms, private forest preserves, national parks and private outfitters,” he said. “Representatives of the businesses we visit speak to the group about their experience and answer questions about how their operations work and what makes them successful.”

Phillips said the program uses the services of a full-time, local certified naturalist tour guide and provides a private bus and driver.

“In addition to the educational sessions that included presentations and discussion with local business representatives, this year’s participants visited four lodging facilities and had seven different tourism experiences,” he said. “These included forest canopy zip-line operations, coastal boating tours, guided forest walks, birding, organic farm tours, volcano viewing and hot springs, community crafts and more.”

Phillips said one of the eye-opening aspects of this year’s field course was the overwhelming popularity of one of Costa Rica’s national parks and the prominence and popularity of certified wildlife guides in that country.

“We arrived at Manuel Antonio National Park before 8 a.m. and there were literally hundreds of people already lined up and waiting for the park to open,” he said. “It was amazing to see all those people anxious to get inside so they could hike, watch wildlife and be involved in other nature tourism activities.”

Phillips said a major goal of the field course program is to provide participants with additional insights on how they may enhance their own operations and their communities by introducing higher-value experiences to attract regional and international visitors.

The AgriLife Extension field course in Costa Rica for ecotourism professionals shows how business owners can add value to their own operations. (Texas AgriLife Extension Service photo by Miles Phillips)

Earlier this year, the President Obama signed an executive order and developed initiatives intended to help increase the amount of travel and tourism in the U.S. A Jan. 19 White House press office release stated that “the travel and tourism industry projects that more than 1 million American jobs could be created over the next decade if the U.S. increased its share of the international travel market.” It also stated that U.S. Department of Commerce figures showed international travel yielded $134 billion in U.S. exports in 2010.

A 2006 survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service showed about 6 million people in Texas participated in some form of recreation involving fish and wildlife during that year. Anglers, hunters and wildlife viewers generated $8.91 billion in retail sales, creating $4.67 billion in salaries and wages and supporting 139,404 jobs.

“Costa Rica is one of the world’s most successful ecotourism and sustainable tourism destinations, so it provides a wealth of information on what does and doesn’t work when it comes to boosting travel and tourism,” Phillips said. “We want U.S. nature tourism to be even more successful and compete with other nature  and sustainable tourism businesses worldwide. We can learn a lot from a country that is a long-standing world leader in the ecotourism and agritourism business.”

Phillips said an educational package of audio and video podcasts is being created so that those who cannot attend the field course may still learn more about nature tourism operations in Costa Rica.

Phillips said  the next international field course  likely will take place Jan. 30-Feb. 6, 2013. For local programs and more information on nature tourism, go to http://naturetourism.tamu.edu or contact Phillips at 979-845-1023 or mdphillips@ag.tamu.edu.

-30-

“Each year, we offer producers the tools, data and skills they’ll need to find the potential profitability of alternative crops here on the South Plains,” said Dr. Jackie Smith, AgriLife Extension economist at Lubbock.

He said only one workshop will be offered this year and he urges producers to take advantage of it. The workshop will offer a printed proceedings, crop budgets, a CD of Excel crop budgets, breakeven tables, reference files and Internet links to participants.

“Workshop attendees will essentially be getting instruction on everything they’ll need to make sound crop decisions before the tractor ever enters the field,” Smith said.

“We have designed the support material so producers can easily use the spreadsheet on their own computers,” he said. “The Excel spreadsheet will also let users examine the impact of different crop-share rental or cash-lease arrangements on the landlord’s and renter’s net income.”

Other topics will include input price trends and projections for 2012 along with basis, cash contracts and forward pricing using futures and options.

The workshop is funded through a grant from the Texas State Cotton Support Committee. Smith said the grant enables the workshop team to develop a crop-budget projection tool, conduct the training workshop, keep updated data and make the information readily available to producers.

“Producers can use their spreadsheet to fine-tune their own cost analysis to make accurate comparisons of the dollar potential of cotton, grain-sorghum, corn, peanuts and other crops,” he said. “In all, there are four cotton budgets and 23 for other crops that can quickly be evaluated with expected input costs and projected crop prices.”

Smith said participants will also be introduced to the iPhone/iPad app the team developed for producers to use in the field.

AgriLife Extension risk management specialists Jay Yates and Jeff Pate of Lubbock will assist Smith with the workshops.

Individual registration is $20 by check at the door. The fee includes lunch and refreshments.

To RSVP or for more information call Smith or Viki Bartlett at 806-746-6101.
-30-

COLLEGE STATION – Helping a beef producer become more profitable and identifying methods to make an operation more efficient are just two goals associated with a program offered by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service, according to organizers.

The Beef Partnership in Extension Program, also known as Beef PEP, began in 1996 to conduct applied research in cow-calf production management and teaches producers the benefits of implementing improved management practices.

The Beef Partnership in Extension Program, also known as Beef PEP, began in 1996 to conduct applied research in cow-calf production management and teaches producers the benefits of implementing improved management practices. (Texas AgriLife Extension Service photo by Blair Fannin)

“Our goal with the Beef PEP program is to improve profitability and lower the cost of production,” said Dr. Tom Hairgrove, AgriLife Extension animal health specialist and program coordinator. “A producer in this program gets a complete examination of their operation and comes away with several methods to help improve their bottom line.”

Dr. Tom Hairgrove, Texas AgriLife Extension Service animal health specialist, coordinates the Beef Partnership in Extension Program, also known as Beef PEP, offered by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service. (Texas AgriLife Extension Service photo by Blair Fannin)

AgriLife Extension specialists assist program participants with a variety of expertise. Specialists in the areas of forage, economics and animal health work with different producers in Texas. Representatives from Texas A&M University’s College of Veterinary Medicine also assist in the program, while Pfizer Animal Health continues to sponsor activities with products and consultation.

AgriLife Extension specialists have one-on-one meetings with the producers, evaluating all aspects of an operation from finances, forage systems, and herd selection and breeding programs. From those meetings, a broad-view plan is developed for the rancher and specialists work in consultation for several months during the year.

“The bottom line of the Beef PEP project is to benefit Texas beef cow-calf producers,” said Dr. Steve Wikse, who started the program and is now a retired professor of veterinary medicine at Texas A&M. “It helps them have sustainable operations. Even greater, the program helps build on the economic impact of Texas beef cattle operations.”

The first Beef PEP program had six study herds, Wikse said, successfully adding more than 100 pounds of weight gain on marketed calves.

“We gave each of those ranches scores on a scale of one to five,” Wikse said. “During this initial start of the program, drought conditions prevailed, but 80 percent of added gain came as a result of new methods implemented upon the advice of our consultation.”

In 2011, of the four herds involved in the Beef PEP program, the average herd size is 200 head. One of the first evaluations was finances of the herds, said Dr. Stan Bevers, AgriLife Extension economist in Vernon.

“The main thing producers need to realize is how important records are,” Bevers said. “It can be as simple as pen and paper, or putting financial information into an Excel spreadsheet.”

Bevers runs the data collected from the herds through the Standardized Performance Analysis software system. It generates specific production data showing a producer how much each cow is generating in sales and profit.

“Once you go through the records and start looking through each category, you come away seeing that costs are always higher than what you thought they were,” he said.

Bevers said an easy way to see how much costs are impacting a rancher’s bottom line is to take the Schedule F filed with a federal income tax return, taking expenses and divide that by the number of cows you have.

“Beef PEP allows us to come in and take a real-life situation in a county and bring in a professional with expertise related to specific areas, such as forage production,” said Mark Currie, AgriLife Extension agent in Polk County. “The program is also advantageous to us because we can take what we learn from it and apply it to other programs within Extension.”

Dr. Glenn Rogers, Pfizer senior manager for beef veterinary operations, said the program benefits everyone involved.

“We consider Beef PEP a program that can have a big impact on livestock health and the state of Texas,” he said. “Instead of focusing on just one disease, it allows us to showcase our whole portfolio of (livestock) health products.”

Pfizer has been a Beef PEP sponsor for more than 10 years and has been an active participant in the study herds, Hairgrove said.

For more information about the program, contact Hairgrove at 979-458-3216 or email TBHairgrove@ag.tamu.edu .

-30-

The meeting, hosted by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service and the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board, will be from 6-8 p.m. at the Nacogdoches County Farm Bureau Conference Facility, 2302 NW Stallings Drive in Nacogdoches. Registration begins at 5:30 p.m.

An Attoyac Bayou Watershed Partnership meeting will be held the evening of March 8 in Nacogdoches. Discussion will include initial modeling results and certain draft watershed plan chapters. (Texas AgriLife Extension Service photo)

“Anyone interested in protecting and restoring water quality in the Attoyac Bayou and improving or protecting its watershed is invited to the meeting,” said Crispin Skinner, Prairie View A&M University Cooperative Extension Program agriculture and natural resources agent for Nacogdoches County.

“The meeting will focus on continuing discussions on developing the watershed protection plan,” said Lucas Gregory, Texas Water Resources Institute project manager. “Specifically, this meeting will include a presentation comparing stream flow to monitored water-quality data, an overview of potential management practices to consider including in the plan, the presentation of initial SELECT model outputs, and the distribution of several draft chapters of the watershed protection plan.”

The Texas Water Resources Institute, which manages the project, is part of Texas AgriLife Research, AgriLife Extension and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University.

Gregory said model inputs were the primary topic of discussion at the Dec. 8 meeting.

“The decisions made at that meeting were fed directly into this model, and the draft outputs that will be presented are a direct reflection of the input provided by partnership members,” he said.

Anthony Castilaw of  Catislaw Environmental Services, Attoyac Bayou watershed coordinator, said the content of this meeting will build off of previous meetings and get the partnership one step closer to the goal of developing an effective watershed protection plan for the Attoyac Bayou.

“The information presented here was developed using local watershed information and provides useful guidance for further fleshing out the watershed protection plan,” Skinner added. “The thing stakeholders need to remember is that this plan will only be as good as the information that goes into its development. Continued local participation in this process is critical.”

Several chapters of the Attoyac Bayou Watershed Protection Plan,  including the “Watershed Management Approach,” “Watershed History,” “Watershed Characteristics” and “Watershed Source Survey,” will be distributed at this meeting.

“We want partnership members to review them at their leisure and have time to provide comments to project personnel so they can be addressed in a timely fashion,” Skinner said. “As always, watershed stakeholders are strongly urged to attend all partnership meetings and become directly involved in this process. These meetings provide a direct opportunity to participate in developing the watershed protection plan and ensure that it meets local needs.”

Funding for the development and support of the Attoyac Bayou Watershed Protection Plan is through a Clean Water Act grant provided by the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

For more information, see the project website: http://attoyac.tamu.edu/ or contact Gregory at lfgregory@ag.tamu.edu or 979-845-7869.

-30-

COLLEGE STATION – Being able to pinpoint molecular mechanisms within a wheat plant to help researchers select for drought-tolerance and quality might be the most important aspect of a new agreement between Texas AgriLife Research and Bayer CropScience, officials say.

“The advancement of technology to support the development of crop varieties is essential to the health and prosperity of the state, nation and the world,” said John Sharp, chancellor of The Texas A&M University System. “This multi-year agreement between Bayer CropScience and The Texas A&M University System is fundamental to that goal.”

Drought tolerance and tortillas or other flat breads are two projects targeted for collaboration, said Dr. Mark Hussey, vice chancellor and dean for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences of the Texas A&M System.

“It is essential that we develop strategic, focused areas of collaboration with major corporate partners in order to maintain and grow our public breeding, agronomic and supporting programs in wheat and small grains,” Hussey said. “This ensures we remain connected to the marketplace for the benefit of growers, producers and consumers.”

“We believe our collaboration with Texas AgriLife will help to advance global improvement of wheat genetics and quality, and is particularly important for our focus on key traits like drought tolerance and disease resistance,” said Dr. Mike Gilbert of Lubbock, head of breeding and trait development for Bayer CropScience.

“Additionally, we will be working together to develop improved genetics to serve specific end-use areas such as the flat bread market, which is not only important, but continuing to grow,” Gilbert said.

Dr. Craig Nessler, director of AgriLife Research, said the Bayer collaboration will give worldwide exposure to the wheat improvement programs of AgriLife Research and the Texas AgriLife Extension Service. In addition, it builds a strategic research and development relationship with a company that shares AgriLife’s dedication to crop improvement.

This agreement will allow a concentrated effort to be made toward drought tolerance for Texas wheat producers utilizing biotechnology, Nessler said, and in return provide Bayer with non-exclusive access to some of AgriLife Research’s wheat breeding materials to build into its germplasm base.

Wheat variety trials across the state help Texas AgriLife Research determine what varieties work best in what regions. (Texas AgriLife Research photo by Kay Ledbetter)

The importance of drought-tolerance traits was highlighted in the 2011 drought, when Texas wheat producers saw the second smallest wheat crop in recent history with production only reaching 49.4 million bushels, said Rodney Mosier, Texas Wheat Producers executive vice president in Amarillo. The 2010 production was 120 million bushels.

“Funding research to develop high-yielding, drought-tolerant, disease and insect resistant varieties for Texas producers has always been a top priority of the Texas Wheat Producers Board,” said Mosier.  “We are pleased to see the development of this partnership and look forward to continued investment in Texas wheat research.”

“The worldwide need for food is growing with our exploding population. Strategic partnerships can yield food security, a necessity for any family,” Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples said.
“This collaboration is yet another reminder of the need to develop technology which empowers Texas food and fiber producers to defy all odds so they can continue producing the safest, most affordable food and fiber anywhere in the world,” Staples said. “I commend Bayer CropSciences for investing in this noble cause and the Texas A&M System for continuing their tradition of bold leadership.”
Bob Avant, AgriLife Research director of corporate relations, said AgriLife Research has been aggressively seeking long-term, strategic agreements with major corporations in the agriculture and life sciences space.

“This agreement is a great example of how a major, worldwide corporation can work with AgriLife Research to move university intellectual property into the market place,” Avant said.

“With this collaboration, we believe we can make a focused effort toward drought tolerance,” said Dr. Jackie Rudd, an AgriLife Research wheat breeder in Amarillo. “We already have a strong team working on drought resources, but now we will have funding to concentrate our effort on the molecular mechanisms of drought tolerance and introduce that very important set of traits into new varieties and enhance our breeding efforts.”

More than 10 years ago, AgriLife Research’s wheat breeding program established two Centers for Excellence – one in Amarillo and one in College Station. Each houses numerous scientists and utilizes a multidisciplinary approach to cultivar development, including a combination of conventional and molecular breeding techniques, said Dr. John Sweeten of Amarillo, chair of the AgriLife Small Grains Advisory Committee.

“We established a strategic plan in 2001 to cover all aspects of the small grains program,” Sweeten said. “The Small Grains Strategic Plan was updated in 2008 and this new agreement directly addresses four of the seven major goals outlined in that plan.”

In addition to the two Centers for Excellence, AgriLife Research has a wheat quality lab in College Station concentrating on improving bread quality and working toward specialty wheat projects such as tortillas and other flat breads, said Dr. David Baltensperger, professor and head of the Texas A&M soil and crop sciences department.

While Texas A&M’s wheat varieties were not always known for their quality, the work from the wheat quality lab has resulted in great progress towards specific traits for quality, Baltensperger said. Just recently, the milling and baking industry gave high rankings to recent AgriLife releases due to the continuous improvement in bread quality.

“And today, the tortilla market and the chip market from tortillas is a bigger consumer of wheat flour than loaf bread,” he said. “Because this is an area we intend to focus our attention, we believe we can make additional strides and a quality difference worldwide.”

The most recent addition in this push for excellence was the establishment of the Texas AgriLife Genomics and Bioinformatics Core in College Station, said Dr. Bill McCutchen, AgriLife Research executive associate director.

“The genomics core, led by Dr. Charlie Johnson, provides our scientists with the capability to quickly advance important traits that we find in our multiple research plots across Texas, traits such as drought tolerance,” McCutchen said.

“The molecular-marker system provides a genetic road-map of sorts, and we can now advance our breeding and agronomic research programs at a much faster pace,” he said. “We now have the ability with genomics to integrate and develop superior wheat varieties for yield, drought tolerance, quality and other traits in a much shorter period of time as compared to conventional  means of breeding.”

McCutchen said by combining “Our strong breeding, pest management and agronomic expertise with genetic knowledge, we, AgriLife, are able to produce significant advancements across cropping systems. Not only does this technology apply to wheat, but to all crops, livestock, diseases – anything with DNA.

“The discoveries also mean that Texas A&M and AgriLife are able to create new patentable intellectual property,” he said.

The germplasm developed by AgriLife’s wheat program is important to more than just U.S. consumers and producers, said Dr. Amir Ibrahim, project leader of the AgriLife Research small grains breeding program.

“The work this collaboration will allow us to do will create markets beyond the boundaries of Texas and the U.S. Great Plains states for Texas wheat,” Ibrahim said.

The AgriLife Research small grains program has provided commercially available releases from Texas A&M such as TAM 111, TAM 112, TAM 203, TAM 304, TAM 401 and TAM soft 700 over recent years, Rudd said. The latest release is TAM 113.

TAM 111 is the No. 1 variety in Texas, Kansas and the Oklahoma Panhandle, and No. 3 in Colorado and Nebraska, he said.

All TAM varieties are licensed to and marketed by private industry, as AgriLife Research and Texas A&M are in the business of developing new varieties, but are not a commercial seed company, said Steve Brown, Texas Foundation Seed Service program director in Vernon.

Brown said Texas Foundation Seed Service’s role is to take a new TAM wheat variety from the research program and expand the seed to a large enough quantity to make it available to a commercial seed company that licenses the new variety.

“AgriLife scientists will continue to develop and release TAM varieties in the same manner as has been done in the past,” he said.

“However, this agreement will facilitate more rapid development of desirable traits incorporated in new TAM varieties that will be made available to wheat producers throughout Texas and other traditional hard red wheat production areas of the U.S.,” Brown said. “In addition, wheat improvements developed through this collaboration will more rapidly advance development of wheat varieties that benefit producers on a global scale.”

AgriLife Research’s wheat breeding program is a strong one that has been built on public funding and producer support, as well as with private collaborations, Rudd said. This latest agreement will only enhance the future of the program.

Although gains have been steady, a lower investment in wheat genetic research over the years has left wheat yield gains lagging compared to corn, which has many more researchers dedicated to its advancement, he said.

“These types of collaborations ultimately lead to direct benefits to producers and consumers, and they will be the ultimate winners,” Rudd said.

-30-

COLLEGE STATION – Being able to pinpoint molecular mechanisms within a wheat plant to help researchers select for drought tolerance and quality might be the most important aspect of a new Texas AgriLife Research and Bayer CropScience agreement, officials say.

“The advancement of technology to support the development of crop varieties is essential to the health and prosperity of the state, nation and the world,” said John Sharp, chancellor of The Texas A&M University System. “This multi-year agreement is fundamental to that goal.”

Drought tolerance and tortillas or other flat breads are projects targeted for collaboration, said Dr. Mark Hussey, vice chancellor and dean for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences of the Texas A&M System.

“It is essential that we develop strategic, focused areas of collaboration with major corporate partners in order to maintain and grow our wheat and small grains program,” Hussey said. “This will help ensure we remain connected to the marketplace for the benefit of growers, producers and consumers.”

“We believe our collaboration with Texas AgriLife will help to advance global improvement of wheat genetics and quality, and is particularly important for our focus on key traits like drought tolerance and disease resistance,” said Dr. Mike Gilbert of Lubbock, head of breeding and trait development for Bayer CropScience.

Dr. Craig Nessler, AgriLife Research director, said this will give worldwide exposure to the Texas A&M System wheat improvement programs of AgriLife Research and the Texas AgriLife Extension Service. In addition, it builds a strategic research and development relationship with a company that shares AgriLife’s dedication to crop improvement.

This agreement will allow researchers to utilize biotechnology to make a concentrated effort on drought tolerance for Texas wheat producers, Nessler said, while providing Bayer with non-exclusive access to some of AgriLife Research’s wheat breeding materials to build into its germplasm base.

The 2011 drought highlighted the importance of drought-tolerance traits when Texas wheat producers saw the second smallest crop in recent history, said Rodney Mosier, Texas Wheat Producers executive vice president in Amarillo. Production only reached 49.4 million bushels, less than half that of an average year.

“Funding research to develop high-yielding, drought-tolerant, disease- and insect-resistant varieties for Texas producers has always been a top priority of the Texas Wheat Producers Board,” said Mosier.  “We are pleased to see the development of this partnership and look forward to continued investment in Texas wheat research.”

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples said the worldwide need for food is growing with the exploding population.

“Strategic partnerships can yield food security, a necessity for any family,” Staples said. “This collaboration is a reminder of the need to develop technology that empowers Texas food and fiber producers to defy all odds so they can continue producing the safest, most affordable food and fiber of anywhere in the world. I commend Bayer CropSciences for investing in this noble cause and the Texas A&M System for continuing their tradition of bold leadership.”

Wheat variety trials across the state help Texas AgriLife Research determine what varieties work best in what regions. (Texas AgriLife Research photo by Kay Ledbetter)

This agreement is in alignment with decisions made more than 10 years ago when AgriLife Research’s wheat breeding program established two Centers for Excellence – one in Amarillo and one in College Station – and developed a strategic plan, said Dr. John Sweeten of Amarillo, chair of the AgriLife Small Grains Advisory Committee.

Each center houses numerous scientists and utilizes a multidisciplinary approach to cultivar development, including a combination of conventional and molecular breeding techniques, Sweeten said. The Small Grains Strategic Plan was updated in 2008, and this new agreement directly addresses four of the seven major goals of that plan.

AgriLife Research also maintains a wheat quality lab at Texas A&M that concentrates on improving bread quality and working toward specialty wheat projects such as tortillas and other flat breads, said Dr. David Baltensperger, Texas A&M soil and crop sciences department head.

While Texas A&M’s wheat varieties were not always known for quality, the work from the wheat lab has resulted in great progress towards improving specific quality traits, Baltensperger said. The milling and baking industry gave high rankings to recent AgriLife releases due to the continuous improvement in bread quality.

“And today, the tortilla market and the chip market from tortillas is a bigger consumer of wheat flour than loaf bread,” he said. “Because this is an area we intend to focus our attention, we believe we can make additional strides and a quality difference worldwide.”

And most recently, the Texas AgriLife Genomics and Bioinformatics Core was established in College Station, said Dr. Bill McCutchen, AgriLife Research executive associate director. Led by Dr. Charlie Johnson, the genomics core provides scientists with the capability to quickly advance important traits found in multiple research plots across Texas.

“The molecular-marker system provides a genetic road-map of sorts,” McCutchen said. “We now have the ability with genomics to integrate and develop superior wheat varieties for yield, drought tolerance, quality and other traits in a much shorter period of time as compared to conventional means of breeding.”

The AgriLife Research small grains program has provided commercially available releases such as TAM 111, TAM 112, TAM 113, TAM 203, TAM 304, TAM 401 and TAM soft 700 over the recent years, said Dr. Jackie Rudd, an AgriLife Research wheat breeder in Amarillo.

TAM 111 is the No. 1 variety in Texas, Kansas and the Oklahoma Panhandle, and No. 3 in Colorado and Nebraska, Rudd said.

All TAM varieties are licensed to and marketed by private industry, as AgriLife Research and Texas A&M are in the business of developing new varieties but are not a commercial seed company, said Steve Brown, Texas Foundation Seed Service program director in Vernon.

Brown said Texas Foundation Seed Service’s role is to take a new TAM wheat variety from the research program and expand the seed to a large enough quantity to make it available to a commercial seed company that licenses the new variety for further release.

“AgriLife scientists will continue to develop and release TAM varieties in the same manner as has been done in the past,” he said.

“However, this agreement will facilitate more rapid development of desirable traits incorporated in new TAM varieties to be made available to wheat producers throughout Texas and other traditional hard red wheat production areas of the U.S. and on a global scale,” Brown said.

AgriLife Research’s wheat breeding program is a strong one that has been built on public funding and producer support, as well as with private collaborations, Rudd said. This latest agreement will only enhance the future of the program.

Although gains have been steady, a lower investment in wheat genetic research over the years has left wheat yield gains lagging compared to corn, which has many more researchers dedicated to its advancement, he said.

“These types of collaborations ultimately lead to direct benefits to producers and consumers, and they will be the ultimate winners,” Rudd said.
-30-

COLLEGE STATION – In a study recently reported in the journal BMC Genomics, researchers at Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, working with collaborators in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Texas AgriLife Genomics and Bioinformatics Center, have sequenced the first Quarter Horse genome – helping unlock the secrets of what makes this breed so unique.

Genome sequencing is not a new science, but advances in sequencing technology, often referred to as next-generation sequencing, have made it easier and cheaper to sequence the genome of an individual, according to the researchers. It can then be analyzed for clues causing genetic disorders and distinctive traits.

Dr. Scott Dindot, lead researcher and assistant professor in the veterinary pathobiology department at the College of Veterinary Medicine.

The Texas A&M Quarter Horse is the first horse to be sequenced using next-generation sequencing technology, according to researchers.

“Genome sequencing aids our study of normal and abnormal genetic variation,” said Dr. Scott Dindot, lead researcher and assistant professor in the veterinary pathobiology department at the College of Veterinary Medicine. “This project is important because it is a start towards understanding what genetic factors make breeds unique and what mutations may play a role in presenting or diagnosing disease.”

Dr. Noah Cohen, professor in the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine and collaborator in the study, underscored the importance of the role genetic variation plays in the disease process.

“This study represents a valuable contribution to our understanding of genetic variation in horses,” said Cohen, “including efforts to study the relationship between genetic variation and susceptibility to important diseases in Quarter Horses and other breeds.”

The genome sequencing of an American Quarter Horse has the potential to have a tremendous impact on the equine industry, as the American Quarter Horse Association represents the largest breed registry in the U.S. The information from this study may lead to improvements in performance in horses, and facilitate the management of health of horses everywhere.

Dr. Jason Sawyer, a Texas AgriLife Research scientist and associate professor in the department of animal science in College Station.

“Many diseases and syndromes are the result of genetic variation,” said Dr. Jason Sawyer, a Texas AgriLife Research scientist and associate professor in the department of animal science in College Station who was part of the research team. “Perhaps more importantly, the ability to combat infectious diseases may be greatly impacted by the underlying genome and the variation that arises during recombination. This study has identified areas of variation that may play a role in the health and disease resistance of horses. While more research must be done to specifically identify desirable and beneficial variants, this study has set the stage to enable those future studies.”

The first horse genome to be sequenced and assembled, a Thoroughbred mare, was completed by a large international consortium. This reference assembly was used to map the Quarter Horse genome and to identify differences in genetic information between the two horses. The sequence data from the project has been made available publicly for researchers interested in equine genetics.

“The horse used in the study, a mare named Sugar, is the descendant of key foundation sires in the Quarter Horse breed,” Dindot said. “We were able to identify several genetic variants in this mare, both good and bad, known to be common among Quarter Horses. Results from this study have increased our knowledge of genetic variation in horses three-to four-fold, and proved that, through collaborations such as this, we can one day apply this state-of-the-art technology to identify and possibly manage genetic disorders not only in horses, but also in other species.”

To view a provisional version of the paper, go to http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/13/78/abstract.

Funding for the study was provided by the G. Willard and Ginger Pool Equine Teaching and Research Endowment, the Link Equine Research Endowment, Texas AgriLife Research, collaborators from the Department of Animal Science and the Department of Veterinary Pathobiology at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Texas A&M.

-30-

A three-year effort, led by Dr. Wendy Powers-Schilling at Michigan State University, has resulted in the National Air Quality Site Assessment Tool. Funding was provided through a U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service grant.

The NAQSAT, as the tool is called, was developed for use by livestock producers and their consultants to look at various management decisions and determine how those ultimately impact the air quality emissions from a particular site, said Dr. Brent Auvermann, a Texas AgriLife Extension Service agricultural engineer in Amarillo and member of the team.

“This tool is for the voluntary environmental steward,” Auvermann said. “We want an individual producer to be able to use the tool to look at scenarios where the greatest impact can be made for every dollar expended.”

Auvermann, who worked with others representing 15 different universities, said his primary role was to create the beef segment of the tool, which targets six animal species or sub-species: swine, dairy, beef, broiler chickens, laying hens and turkeys.

The tool provides what the team has determined to be the most accurate, credible science currently available for methods to reduce airborne emissions of ammonia, methane, volatile organic compounds, hydrogen sulfide, particulate matter and odor.

The tool can be found at http://naqsat.tamu.edu. Upon entering the website, a producer picks an animal species and then follows a set of questions that allow a variety of “what if” scenarios to be evaluated. The producer can change answers to determine how a different management practice will affect emissions potential.

The website also includes a video on the use of the tool, which was narrated by Auvermann. A link can be found on the website or by going directly to http://vimeo.com/23497742 .

Auvermann also provided the mathematical framework for the scoring technique that allows a producer to compare an individual operation under different management scenarios.

“We want a producer to be able to go through and answer questions about his operation and then determine what level of control might be achieved if he did things differently,” he said. “And then the producer can use that information to score his operation as a percentage of maximum performance.”

Comparing results from different scenarios can help the producer highlight any unintended consequences where a mitigation measure to reduce one component may inadvertently increase another concern, Auvermann said.

For instance, if a producer elects to install a sprinkler system for dust control, the tool will show a decrease in dust potential but an increase in the potential for emissions of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas, he said.

The team designed the tool to provide information and education only. It is not intended to provide emissions data and/or regulatory guidance, according to the website.

The report generated by the tool cannot be used to compare one livestock facility to another and the information remains the private property of the operator, Auvermann said. No data is stored on either the operation or the individual.

“One of the things we hope to do with this tool is forestall regulatory requirements,” he said. “This is a tool for the progressive livestock and poultry producers interested in voluntary environmental stewardship efforts. Voluntary self-assessment and attentive management are the best ways to keep the government regulations at bay.”

The project team also recently has begun a new three-year effort to update and improve the tool.

“We’re always learning something new,” Auvermann said. “We want the latest, best science at the public’s disposal.”

-30-