U of A Team from Bumpers College Wins Southern Weed Science Contest

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The 2016 Southern Weed Science champions include (from left) professor and coach Nilda Burgos, Gordon Travis Jones, Nicholas Steppig, Christopher Meyer, Zachary Lancaster, Mason Young, Ryan Miller, John Godwin, and professor and coach Jason Norsworthy from Bumpers College's Department of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University of Arkansas weed team recently won the 37th Annual Southern Weed Science Contest held in Scott, Mississippi, with six of the top 10 individual performances.

U of A's weed team, made up of students from the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Science's Department of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences, has won 29 of the last 35 southern regional competitions.

Teams from Virginia Tech University and Mississippi State University finished second and third, respectively. Arkansas also finished ahead of Louisiana State University, Texas A&M University, University of Florida, University of Georgia, University of Tennessee, and one other team from both Virginia Tech and Mississippi State.

Team members include Christopher Meyer, Gordon Travis Jones, Zachary Lancaster and Ryan Miller. Alternates were John Godwin, Nicholas Steppig and Mason Young. CSES professors Nilda Burgos and Jason Norsworthy are the coaches.

Teams were judged in five events — weed identification, herbicide symptomology, field problem solving, written test on pesticide application and practical sprayer calibration. Each student had to solve two farmer problems, one involving cotton and the other corn.

Travis Jones claimed first in the overall individual competition while Meyer was second, Steppig fifth, Miller seventh, Lancaster ninth and Godwin 10th. The top five individuals earned plaques and cash awards, the top 10 plaques, and each member of the winning team plaques and cash awards.

In the event contests, Travis Jones finished first in weed identification and solving farmer problem categories while Meyer won herbicide identification and written calibration test titles.

About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.