By Sarah Cato
Growing up in a small Tennessee town, Kate Turner learned quickly that agriculture was important.
“I grew up with farms all around me,” said Turner, the new extension rice plant pathologist for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. “I knew agriculture was the core of the world.”
With a push by her high school agriculture teacher to pursue plant and soil science in college, Turner found further encouragement at the University of Tennessee at Martin to attend graduate school. After working heavily with extension at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Turner set her sights on an extension career.
“I love extension,” she said. “At UT, both of my advisers were extension specialists, and I was able to do a lot of extension work throughout my time there, and that really helped ignite my passion that this is what I want to do.”
Turner started her new extension position in September and said she hopes to never leave.
“I wanted to find a niche to help growers and now I’m in a position to do that,” she said. “I hope I’m in this job until I retire.”
Not only did her graduate studies give her extension experience, but she also worked with pathogens that may sound familiar to those who work in Arkansas rice.
Source : uada.edu