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 Curtis
Ends 34-Year Extension Career
Auburn,
Dec. 8,
2003 ---
Larry Curtis, Extension biosystems engineer and
Auburn
University
professor of biosystems engineering, will retire in December, ending a
34-year Extension career.
A native of the
Mossy Grove community, he grew up on a farm where his father raised
cotton, peanuts and livestock. Curtis, who began driving a tractor at
age 10, grew up during a time when mechanization was making steep
inroads into farming. Yet, as he recalled, cotton was handpicked and
there was plenty of “drudgery and labor” still associated with
agriculture at the time.
It was a desire to
end this back-breaking labor for his father and other family members
that inspired him to earn a degree from what was then known as the
agricultural engineering (now biosystems engineering) program at
Auburn University. He not only completed his bachelor’s degree but
earned a master’s in agricultural engineering in 1967 before beginning
his military obligation, which included a tour of duty in
South Vietnam.
After his
discharge from the Army in 1969, Curtis received an 18-month grant
from the University of Florida’s Cooperative Extension program to help
the state’s fern industry adopt calibrated spraying equipment so the
plants could be raised under shade.
When the grant was
completed, he went to work with the Florida Department of Natural
Resources helping control the growth of aquatic vegetation that had
begun to choke canals, rivers and lakes throughout the state. Much of
his work involved traveling on air boats and on planes that landed on
water. “Quite an exiting thing to do when you’re young,” he
recalled.
Three year later,
Curtis was contacted by the head of the University of Georgia’s
Agricultural Engineering Department at the
University
of Georgia
to interview for a job as an irrigation specialist. His duties
include overseeing expansion of irrigation in a 17-county area in
southwest Georgia at a time when irrigation had expanded from a few
thousand acres to a half-million acres.
Curtis’ focus
originally had been in material properties of plants, though he had
studied all aspects of agricultural engineering, including irrigation,
as a student at
Auburn.
He credits this phase of his career, especially working with farmers
and equipment dealers, with providing him an intimate knowledge of
irrigation technology --- one that equipped him for the professional
challenges that followed.
In 1976, he was
hired by the then-Alabama Cooperative Extension Service as an
agricultural engineer with statewide responsibilities for irrigation,
water management and erosion control.
Curtis emerged as
a national leader in irrigation-related issues serving in several
national capacities with the National Irrigation Association. In
2000, the Irrigation Association named him Person of the Year for his
outstanding contributions to his industry. He also has served on the
national board that administers testing of and certification for the
design, installation and construction of irrigation equipment.
In Alabama, Curtis
is perhaps best known for his research and Extension work associated
with a $1.5 million grant provided by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
The data he has collected through this research has enabled him to
develop a comprehensive water resource management and development
program for Alabama farmers. Particularly noteworthy is his research
in subsurface drip irrigation, which has been adopted by farmers in
the Tennessee Valley as well as in west and southeast Alabama.
In addition to
farmers, Curtis’ work has benefited the state’s multimillion-dollar
horticulture and turf grass industries.
Following his
retirement, Curtis will continue to work with the Alabama Agricultural
Experiment Station on a part-time basis, which will enable him to
continue his irrigation research at the Tennessee Valley and Wiregrass
Research and Extension Centers.
(Writer:
Jim Langcuster, Extension
Communications Specialist, News and Public Affairs, 334-844-5686.)
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