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.  

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.”