Redmon recognized by alma mater with Outstanding Alumni Award

Writer: Kay Ledbetter, 806-677-5608, skledbetter@ag.tamu.edu
Contact: Dr. Larry Redmon, 979-845-4826, l-redmon@tamu.edu

COLLEGE STATION – Dr. Larry Redmon, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service state forage specialist at College Station, was recently recognized with the Stephen F. Austin State University Department of Agriculture Outstanding Alumni Award.

“Larry is in my all-time top 10 out of about 3,000 students in the last 40 years of teaching here at SFA,” said Dr. Leon Young, director of the soil, plant and water analysis lab at Stephen F. Austin State University and former department chair.

Redmon attended Stephen F. Austin State University from 1984-1989 and earned a bachelor of science in agronomy and master’s in agriculture before commuting from Nacogdoches to Texas A&M University at College Station to earn a doctorate in range science.

He spent six years with Oklahoma State University as a postdoctoral research associate and then assistant professor and Extension forage specialist before joining AgriLife Extension in 1999 as a forage specialist at Overton. He moved to College Station in 2005.

Young said he has known Redmon since the 1980s first as an undergraduate and graduate student and then as a fellow professional during his work at Oklahoma State, Texas A&M at Overton and now as the AgriLife Extension state forage specialist.

“As a student, Larry would often drive for hours to attend class and then return to the ‘day job’ construction job site, indicating that he was both a dedicated student and a conscientious employee,” he said. “As an Extension forage specialist, he bridges the gap between being an agronomist and an animal scientist, focusing on the continuum of soil-plant-animal relationships.”

Young said Redmon has assisted him on two major research projects, one of which dealt with potassium fertilization of Bermuda grass and the other with forage quality analysis. Both resulted in significant assistance for forage and livestock producers.

“Larry has a pleasing personality which really helps him work with farmers, ranchers and university professionals, and we are proud to claim him as an SFA alum,” Young said.

“I was surprised and honored to be awarded their second Department of Agriculture Outstanding Alumni award,” Redmon said. “Each of us has the opportunity, daily, to have a positive impact on others’ lives, and I hope I am doing that.”

Redmon’s research and training programs focus primarily on establishment, management and utilization of forage resources to enhance profit potential for landowners and to protect valuable soil, water and plant resources.

Most recently, he was given the title of Bennett Extension specialist to go along with new responsibilities of managing a first-of-its-kind endowment made by Eskel and Ruth Bennett to make land stewardship in the Edwards Plateau a part of AgriLife Extension. Redmon has established and conducted two Bennett Trust Land Stewardship programs as a part of that appointment.

Redmon also conducts the Ranch Management University twice a year at the G. Rollie White Visitor’s Center on the Texas A&M University campus in College Station. This is an intensive four-day event that targets new or inexperienced ranchers and landowners. It covers the fundamentals of soils and soil fertility, forage establishment, pasture management and utilization by livestock.

He was an integral part of Forage Fax, http://foragefax.tamu.edu , a website that allows subscribers to receive posts such as reminders to obtain a soil test, drought management recommendations, new products and information regarding critical pasture issues. The forages website http://forages.tamu.edu receives in excess of 600,000 requests annually.

He collaborated on five “Lone Star Healthy Streams” manuals available to the public. The Lone Star Healthy Streams program aims to educate Texas livestock producers and land managers on how to best protect Texas waterways from bacterial contributions associated with livestock production and feral hogs,

Redmon also is a regular contributor to AgriLife’s Stiles Farm Field Day and the O.D. Butler Field Day, as well as many others, and has been a key resource in everything from hurricane and wildfire recovery to rebuilding the herd after years of severe drought.