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 Dr. Ronald Smith Ends 31-Year Extension
Career
Auburn,
Nov. 11,
2003 ---
Dr. Ronald H. Smith, Alabama Cooperative Extension System cotton
entomologist and Auburn University professor of entomology, will
retire in December, ending a 31-year Extension career that spanned
several major developments in cotton insect control.
(Dr.
Ron Smith, Alabama Cooperative Extension System cotton entomologist,
discusses cotton insect control at the 2002 East Alabama Cotton Tour.
Smith will end a 31-year career with Extension when he retires in
December.)
A native of
Lawrence
County,
Smith grew up on a small family farm, one in which he and other family
members were involved in every aspect of farming.
“There was very
little mechanization associated with small family farms even as
recently as the 1940s and 50s,” he said. “We were pretty much
hands-on with everything we did, from cattle and swine production to
cotton and corn. It was a pleasant but very hard experience. Hours
didn’t mean anything. You just worked until you ran out of daylight.”
Smith graduated
with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural science from Auburn
University but decided to remain a year to complete a master’s degree
in agronomy and soils. After working a year as a conservationist with
the Soil Conservation Service, now the Natural Resources and
Conservation Service, Smith decided to return to Auburn to pursue a
doctorate in entomology, with the goal of becoming a row-crop
entomologist.
Upon graduation,
Smith soon discovered that very few of these jobs were available. So,
for the next two years, he taught as an assistant professor of general
biology at Judson College, a private school in Marion, Ala.
Smith finally got
the call he had been waiting for in 1972 --- an offer to return to
Auburn University to work as an Extension cotton entomologist.
Smith played a
major role introducing two very far-reaching changes to the cotton
industry --- boll weevil eradication and transgenic cotton. In fact,
Alabama was the only state in the nation where these two major
milestones occurred simultaneously.
With the
introduction of these technologies, the use of insecticides has
dropped markedly --- to the point where many growers managed to get
through the entire season without applying any sprays.
“We went from this
intense spraying to no spraying beginning in 1996,” Smith said.
“Since that year, the input of insecticides throughout much of the
Southeast has been minimal to what we have known historically.”
While Smith will
retire in December, he will continue serving cotton growers as a
contract entomologist for the Extension System.
Looking back on a
31-year career, Smith said he has always prided himself on his dogged
insistence on serving as a source of accurate, up-to-date information
for producers.
“When I go to a
grower’s meeting, I’m not telling them what I’ve learned from reading
research in a library. I’m telling them about something with which
I’ve had hands-on experience and that I’ve been able to compare
against similar findings in other states.
“If what you’ve
learned compares favorably to research in other states, it gives you
tremendous confidence in what you’re telling growers. We’ve never
been afraid to go out on a limb with growers if we had accurate
information to back up our recommendations.
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