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Publisher's
Profile
In Virginia, agriculture is big business and a major
component of the economy. According to the latest information
from the Virginia Department of Agriculture, the industry
generates approximately $35.9 billion in total sales
and contributes $19.5 billion to Virginia’s gross
state product. In fact, one out of every seven jobs
in Virginia is related to agriculture. For our annual
agriculture feature, Publisher Doug Forshey spoke with
the heads of Virginia’s largest agriculture schools,
Dr. Sharron S. Quisenberry at Virginia Tech and Dr.
Lorenza Lyons at Virginia State University, to find
out how their schools are supporting Virginia’s
agricultural community.
Virginia
Business
November 2003
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Virginia
State University
Name:
Dr. Lorenza W. Lyons
Title: Dean, School of Agriculture
Education: Ed. D. in vocational technical
education from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and State University, Blacksburg, Va.; B.S. in
agricultural education from North Carolina Agricultural
and Technical State College, Greensboro, N.C.
Birthplace: Tarboro, N.C.
Time with VSU: 20 years; in present position
since 1993
Agriculture
Program Information
Students: Approximately 150
Faculty: 40
Degree programs: Agriculture, family and
consumer sciences and hospitality management
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Q.
What is one major initiative your students/faculty are
working on that has the greatest potential to impact
Virginia’s agriculture economy?
A.
Right now we are in the process of developing a curriculum
in risk-management education that is being used throughout
the country. We recently conducted a national training
conference on risk management in Atlanta and had participants
from 35 states.
By
most estimates there are approximately 50,000 rural
farmers in our commonwealth. One of our missions as
a land-grant university is community service. We want
to go to the rural farm community and teach them basic
business skills, such as financial planning,accounting
and managing risks, so they can grow their businesses
through better planning. Qualifying for farm operating
or ownership loans requires documentation, and we can
show them how to set up and keep accurate business records.
We can help them improve their (crop) yield, but we
can also help them improve their margins.
One
key resource VSU will be deploying to facilitate the
training is the new VSU mobile computer lab, a converted
school bus with a built-in classroom that includes 12
networked computers with remote wireless Internet access
and classroom video capabilities.
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Virginia
Tech
Name:
Dr. Sharron S. Quisenberry
Title: Dean, College of Agriculture and
Life Sciences
Education: Ph.D. and Master’s of Science,
University of Missouri-Columbia; Master’s
of Arts, Hood College; B.S. Education, Truman
State University
Birthplace: Kirksville, Mo.
Time with Tech: three months; recently
joined Virginia Tech as the dean
Agriculture Program Information
Students: Approximately 1,700
Faculty: 245
Degree programs: Agribusiness; agricultural
economics; biotechnology; animal, poultry and
dairy sciences; equine sciences; environmental
sciences; entomology; plant sciences; weed science;
biochemistry; food science; human nutrition, health
and exercise; plant physiology and pathology;
aquaculture; horticulture; biological systems
engineering; agricultural education and extension.
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Q.
What is one major initiative your students/faculty are
working on that has the greatest potential to impact
Virginia’s agriculture economy?
A.
One would be agriculture in the relationship between
food, nutrition and health. New knowledge and technologies
in nutrition, food production and processing can help
prevent debilitating and costly chronic illnesses, such
as heart disease, cancer and stroke. New foodstuffs
can be developed and produced to meet specific levels
of nutrition and to block, in scientifically designed
ways, the onset of chronic diseases. Another area will
be the bioprocessing of agricultural crops for the production
of biorenewable products, (such as fuels, lubricants,
pharmaceuticals) and other value-added products.
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