In this Issue

  • News from the College of Ag
  • Events
  • Awards, Accomplishments and New Faculty
  • Publications and Funding Opportunities

News from the College of Ag

Upcoming Events

  • MSU Extension is hosting its annual cropping seminar series Jan. 6-10 in the Golden Triangle with stops in Chester, Choteau, Conrad, Cut Bank, Fort Benton, Great Falls, Havre, Shelby and Stanford. Speakers include Jane Mangold, Tiziana Oppedisano, Tom Allen, Cecil Tharp and Joseph Jensen. More information is available on the MSU website.
  • The Montana Fertilizer Advisory Council will hold a public meeting on January 29 at 12:30pm in PBB 108. Depending on volume, the meeting will reconvene at 8:30 a.m. January 30.
  • The Pulse Crop Working Group is hosting its annual research meeting February 17-19 in Bozeman. All faculty, students and staff are invited to attend some or all of the events to connect with pulse crop researchers, Extension specialists, industry stakeholders and growers, and share pulse crop-focused research programs and outcomes. Events will include a working dinner and student poster session, research meeting and stakeholder listening session, along with a campus tour showcasing pulse research. Faculty and students are invited to present a research talk (12 minutes) at the Tuesday meeting and/or a poster at the Monday welcome dinner. There is no registration fee to attend; register here by January 6.

Awards, Accomplishments and New Faculty

  • Congratulations to Samuel Koeshall, doctoral student in the LRES department, who placed 2nd in the PhD poster and oral presentation competition at the 2024 Crop Science Society of America meeting in San Antonio, TX! He presented in the Crop Ecology, Management and Quality division, highlighting research findings from a three-year project focusing on using insecticides to manage pea leaf weevil infestations, and the influence of those practices on pea protein and yield. Thank you for your work in research and outreach, Sam!
  • Welcome to Bryan Fisher, a new research associate in Animal & Range Sciences!
  • Wishing a wonderful retirement to longtime ARS professor Bok Sowell and administrative associate Denise Thompson. We will miss you!
  • Brent Roeder, MSU Extension sheep and wool specialist, is quoted in the Time magazine article, "Farmers are using wool to save water in the drought-ridden west." You can read the full story here.
  • Research from MSU Extension Forage Specialist Hayes Goosey is the subject of a USDA article published in October, “Livestock Grazing Makes More Habitat for Native Bees.” The full article can be found here.
  • Lance McNew, associate professor of wildlife habitat ecology, was a guest on The Art of Range podcast where he discussed "Rangeland Wildlife Ecology and Conservation," a book on which he served as co-editor. Check out the podcast episode here!

Many thanks to Chloe Hinson, president of MSU’s PSPP graduate student club, for providing a summary of the club’s activities this semester. We are so grateful for our student leadership and the communities they foster!

“This semester has seen a resurgence in the graduate student community with the new Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology Graduate Student Club! Thanks to hard work within the community and support from the Graduate School, the CHS Foundation and the PSPP department, we have helped graduate students grow scientifically and professionally, and find their place here at MSU!

We have been promoting professional skills with a regular journal club, where graduate students lead discussion on important papers in agriculture. We hosted monthly practical workshops so current students could share their knowledge of the hands-on aspects of specific scientific processes.

To foster community, we invited graduate students to share a meal and relax together monthly! We have been thrilled by the participation and support from everyone in the PSPP department and from our graduate students in particular. We are looking forward to a great new semester and to continuing to further the values of the College of Ag and MSU!”

Publications and Funding Opportunities

Recent Publications

Funding Opportunities

  • Proposals are now open for Montana Fertilizer Advisory Committee funding. Faculty are invited to submit proposals, and reports for previously funded projects are due. Both are due January 15. To view full details of the program, please visit the MFAC website. Questions can be directed to Rebecca Falks at rebecca.falks@montana.edu.
  • Western SARE Sabbatical Grant Program opens January 22. More information available here.

Recent Grants

  • Jane Ann Boles of the ARS department received COA OTO funding for upgrades to the Meat Science Lab.