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| Distinguished Professor Gebisa Ejeta worked with farmers in Africa, helping them use Purdue-developed striga- resistant sorghum varieties through the Integrated Striga Management project. |
Improving world production
Purdue’s crop genetics research helped Hoosier farmers turn Indiana into a top food-producing state. This research also helped farmers in some of the world’s poorest countries feed themselves.
Distinguished Professor Gebisa Ejeta worked with farmers in Africa, helping them use Purdue-developed striga-resistant sorghum varieties through the Integrated Striga Management (ISM) project.
The management system resulted in as much as five times the yield normally found in the affected areas, even in areas so severely infested with striga that farmers received almost no crop. Areas that used the integrated management strategy became almost striga-free. Now, thousands of farmers in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Tanzania use the ISM package. It’s so popular that farmers in Ethiopia refer to it as “Purdue Sorghum” rather than its Ethiopian name. “This is development,” says Ejeta, who is a native of Ethiopia, “a slow process that is key to the success and sustainability of valuable agronomic practices that work.”
A legacy of teaching
Teaching others has always been a hallmark of the agronomy department, whether it’s educating farmers around the world or Purdue’s resident students. Faculty continually strive to develop new teaching methods.
Professors Bill McFee and Jim Ahlrichs transformed an introductory soils course from a conventional lecture-lab format to an audio tutorial course in the late 1960s. “This new method of teaching gave us a chance to work with students one-on-one and in small groups, and it allowed the students to control the pace at which they learned,” says McFee, who served on the agronomy faculty from 1965-2005.
Initially, students were directed to soil monoliths, displays and experiments in the Soils Resource Center. Audio instruction from reel-to-reel tape players accompanied by a slide projector showed different soils in the landscape, nutrient deficiencies and erosion features. In the 1980s, agronomy professor George Van Scoyoc introduced computers with high-resolution monitors to direct the learning experience. Hands-on activities and personalized tutoring continue to be the cornerstone of the Soils Resource Center.
The innovative methods started at Purdue are now in use at other institutions. “Many of the center’s teaching assistants who have gone through the graduate programs are now teaching at universities around the country,” McFee says.
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The 20,000-square-foot Beck Agricultural Center contains space for classes, meetings, hands-on demonstrations and research. Completed this fall, the $5.2 million building is part of the Purdue Agronomy Center for Research and Education. |
A teaching resource that will lead the agronomy department into its second century is the Beck Agricultural Center. Completed this fall, the center provides space for classes, meetings and hands-on demonstrations at the Agronomy Center for Research and Education. The new facility will host the more than 13,000 people annually who attend educational programs at the agronomy farm. The Beck family of Atlanta, Ind., whose history with the agronomy department dates back to 1929, provided a major gift for the training and research center.
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