For this article, I have chosen, as the definition of academics,“the scholarly activities of a college or university, such as classroom studies or research projects”.

Key points that set the tone for this writing are:

• Fields of study that are important to soybean production (actually production of all crops) are agronomy, plant breeding and genetics, weed science, plant pathology, nematology, entomology, and soil science. A predicted, forthcoming, compelling gap in the agricultural sector is the lack of new professional agriculturalists in the above study/teaching areas.


• University crop science faculty positions in the above disciplines usually carry a dual responsibility/appointment–conducting research and teaching/training graduate students. A decline in the number of these positions will thus result in a decline in the number of graduate students that are trained (in both academic subjects and research methodology) to enter the agricultural science fields.


• Future professionals in the above disciplines can only be trained at colleges and universities. Private sector agricultural enterprises do not train scientists. Rather, they employ the trained professionals coming from academia. The Universities’ training of these academicians and scientists, therefore, is the lifeblood of both the public and private agricultural teaching and research sectors.


• Graduate students who complete their degrees in a field of agricultural science eventually become the future scientists, teachers, and extension specialists who will in turn train new scientists and specialists in agricultural fields and conduct research to solve production problems and develop new technologies for agriculture. Thus, the most compelling forthcoming gap resulting from a lack of researchers in crop science faculty positions will be the shortage of academicians to train researchers needed for future soybean production research. If this chain is broken, the system will be disrupted.

Below are points that are critical to addressing this increasing problem.

• Increased interest among graduate students in pursuing an advanced degree in an agricultural field presents the challenge of: With a declining faculty base, who will teach the courses in crop physiology and production, weed control, nematology and pathology, entomology, and soil science necessary to provide the full curriculum needed for training students in the agricultural sciences?


• Trained faculty are continually needed to fill the research and teaching positions that are the backbone of the educational environment necessary for the training of future agricultural academicians, scientists, and farmers. Both public (state and federal) and private resources should be allotted for this on a continuing basis.


• Universities must have the resources to hire and retain faculty that will train future researchers. A shortage of researchers in the above fields of study not only jeopardizes the conduct of future important research, but also jeopardizes the ability to train future researchers. New sources for these resources must be explored by University Administrators.


• It is important that the private sector soybean contingent recognize this crisis and realize it is in their best interests to participate in identifying and implementing activities that will solve this problem. After all, their bottom line is dependent on the continual output of new technology that can be used by producers. Without well-trained researchers and specialists to produce this technology, their future will be in jeopardy.


• Lack of funding at universities has led to an increase in vacant positions whose holders would have been involved in soybean research. This trend will continue since state legislatures have disinvested in agricultural education. In many cases, universities are meeting soybean farmers’ needs only because of checkoff dollars that fund research and extension positions.


• As state funding has been cut, agricultural research has become more dependent on grants and private sector partnerships. This complicates hiring decisions, recruiting of researchers, and sustaining long-term research programs in the University setting.


• Private companies are attracting/hiring the best professors and agricultural scientists by offering more funding for salaries and laboratories. Thus, there is not going to be a next generation of academicians to train new scientists in the agronomy/crop sciences fields of study if this trend outpaces the re-filling of these positions by Universities. (Note: This drain may present the direst consequence for soybean production research; i.e., without a full complement of competent faculty at land grant universities to train new scientists, there will be fewer and fewer new scientists to fill the positions needed for both public and private soybean research and extension endeavors. Once started, this trend cannot be quickly reversed).

Here are some suggestions for remedying the problem.

• Private sector agricultural enterprises should be invited and feel compelled to partner in the establishment of endowed chairs/research positions/professorships devoted to the soybean sector at public universities. This should be viewed as an investment in the companies’ future productivity.


• Checkoff dollars provided by soybean producers should be directed toward:

Filling current or emerging research/teaching gaps through endowed chairs/professorships; and

Cultivating/training new researchers by supporting research projects that have a budget category for a graduate research assistantship. (The MSPB currently funds projects that include stipends for assistantships, and also funds the MSPB Soybean Doctoral Fellowship that is designed to train a Ph.D candidate in a field of soybean research.)

• In the short term, the producer soybean industry, through investment of checkoff dollars, could compensate for unfilled research positions by:

Regional collaboration to jointly fund research projects using researchers from multiple universities (the MSPB-supported Midsouth Soybean Board has become active in this effort);

Partnering with private companies to fund regional projects that will benefit a large contingent of producers;

Continue funding graduate student assistantships/fellowships;

Work toward partnering with industry to fund endowed chairs/professorships devoted to soybean research/teaching at public universities; and

Explore the establishment of inter-university soybean research programs.

In my opinion, the above missive supports an emphatic YES as the answer to the title question.

Composed by Larry G. Heatherly, Oct. 2012, larryheatherly@bellsouth.net