Collaborations with Industry for Experiential Learning and Research.

With the teacher/scholar model, difficulty exists between teaching, research and outreach responsibilities for faculty members.  One method to balance one’s time is to find a way to connect multiple facets of a job. Herbicide test plots in cool-season and warm-season grass pastures (David M. Barton Agriculture Research Center, Gordonville, MO) were developed to provide demonstrations for area producers.  Herbicide applications were made to plots with the following treatments: untreated (control), product rate 1x, product rate 2x, comparison product rate 1x, and comparison product rate 2x.  Industry representatives provided hands-on training on proper pesticide application and safety for any chemical product.  Students were given the opportunity to interact with industry representatives while in the field.  This helped provide “teaching moments” to connect students with experts.  Data was collected to determine the effectiveness for specific target weed species.  Observations were presented at field days and will be used to develop more student-focused research in the future.