By John Lovett
On a round table near Larry Galligan’s desk sits a box of brass fittings, spools of wire, a box of switches and a diverter valve he is rigging for a tractor sprayer at the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture’s Vegetable Research Station.
The setup is just one small part of overseeing the 86-acre station near Kibler, which hosts research plots in a wide range of vegetables and fruits for scientists with the Division of Agriculture’s research arm, Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station.
For Galligan, the many challenges that come with agricultural research are simply part of running the station. Aside from helping troubleshoot projects, wildlife is always in the picture. Rabbits burrow under the trailers. Coyotes brave the electric fences to get into the strawberries. And then there is the weather, with rains delaying some replanting after a recent hailstorm.
“When you do get some dry days,” Galligan said, “you’re just like, ‘Go, go, go.’”
Galligan arrived at the station in October 2025 in time for the soybean harvest and took on the station director role in February following the retirement of longtime director Steve Eaton, who had worked with the experiment station system for 45 years. But Galligan already had a long history in agriculture, both at home and with the Division of Agriculture.
Mary Savin, head of the department of horticulture, said the team was fortunate to hire Galligan for the position after Eaton announced his retirement.
Source : uada.edu