Haley Kennedy joins District 7 as IPM agent

Writer: Susan Himes, 325-657-7315, Susan.[email protected]

SAN ANGELO — Haley Kennedy joined District 7 as a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agent on Feb. 1. She is the integrated pest management agent for Runnels and Tom Green counties.

“I enjoyed working for AgriLife throughout my undergraduate and graduate education, so I knew I wanted a career working for AgriLife,” Kennedy said.

As a graduate assistant, Kennedy assisted in handmade crosses, plant selection and roguing for Texas A&M AgriLife Research in College Station. She also collected and analyzed cottonseed  and fiber data as well as operating cotton saw gins.

“I did my master’s under Dr. Steve Hague, the cotton breeder at Texas A&M University in College Station,” Kennedy said. “My project focused around the selection and response of yield and fiber traits in cotton.”

Kennedy earned her master’s degree in plant breeding in August. As an undergraduate, she worked for the Texas A&M department of plant pathology and as a research assistant for AgriLife Research. Kennedy conducted field work and maintained farm equipment as well as collecting and recording data for cotton studies for AgriLife.

“I knew I wanted a job where I could be out in the field working and interacting with growers, so this position felt like a good fit for me,” Kennedy said. “I hope to educate and help local growers and the community on ways to solve problems – without causing new ones in the future.”