Redmon named Texas A&M Regents Fellow

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 University soil and crop sciences associate department head and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service program leader, has been named a Regents Fellow by the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents.

The award was presented Feb. 10 at the 2014-2015 Regents Awards Reception and Dinner on the Texas A&M campus in College Station.

The Board established the Regents Fellow Service Awards program in 1998 to recognize employees who have made exemplary contributions to their university or agency and to the people of Texas.

Redmon’s visionary, deliberate course, characterized by an ecological systems approach to natural resources, effective team building in program development and delivery, and a broad outreach through both technology and direct service, will have positive impacts across Texas and the nation for years to come, the nomination stated.

His research and educational outreach focus on establishment, management and utilization of forages to improve production systems and protect valuable natural resources.

“His work is renowned because it matters in many ways—for the environment, for the livestock industry and for people, from family farmers and small-acreage owners to major producers, land managers and rural and urban Texas residents alike,” the nomination stated.

After earning his doctorate in range science from Texas A&M University in 1992, Redmon began a career as an Extension educator at Oklahoma State University. In 1999, he moved back to Texas to join AgriLife Extension, serving first at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Overton and became a professor in 2004.

In 2005, he became the agency’s state forage specialist, based in College Station, where he pursued an additional master’s degree in wildlife science. Redmon was named Bennett Trust Extension specialist in 2013.

Redmon manages a unique endowment to AgriLife Extension left by Eskel and Ruth Bennett. He also conducts Ranch Management University, an intensive four-day event targeting new or inexperienced ranchers and landowners, twice a year at the G. Rollie White Visitor’s Center on the Texas A&M campus.

He was an integral part of creating 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.

Redmon collaborated on five Lone Star Healthy Streams manuals aimed at educating Texas livestock producers and land managers on how to best protect Texas waterways from bacterial contributions associated with livestock production and feral hogs.

He works closely with Texas A&M AgriLife Research faculty members to conduct the forage session at the three-day Texas A&M Beef Cattle Short Course. In his position on the board of directors of the Prescribed Burn Alliance of Texas, Redmon further confers with researchers and other AgriLife Extension faculty.

Redmon has served on numerous agency committees, including the Texas A&M AgriLife Water Initiative and the Extension Drought Incident Response Team, the Extension West Region Livestock Production Team, the Extension East Region Beef Cattle Management Team, the Extension East Region Small Acreage Education Team, and the Extension Beef Partnership with Extension Program Team.

He is a much sought after speaker on forage management, according to the nomination. To date, Redmon has participated in more than 1,100 AgriLife Extension county programs with direct contacts in excess of 73,000 individuals. He typically participates in more than 50 AgriLife Extension programs annually.

Redmon is a certified forage and grassland professional, certified wildlife biologist and a certified professional in rangeland management.

He has received two Certificate of Excellence awards from the American Society of Agronomy for the Lone Star Healthy Streams program, as well as for his electronic newsletter, “The Pasture Gazette.”

At Texas A&M, Redmon and other members of the Hurricane Ike Saltwater Intrusion Response Team received the 2009 Vice Chancellor’s Award in Excellence and the AgriLife Extension Superior Service Award. In 2004, a Vice Chancellor’s Award in Excellence was conferred to Redmon’s team for the Pasture and Livestock Management Workshop for Novices.

Most recently, Redmon was named an Outstanding Alumni of the Stephen F. Austin State University department of agriculture, only its second-ever such award.

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