The Mississippi Soybean Promotion Board (MSPB) realizes that the continued and future success of the soybean industry depends on the continual output of qualified soybean practitioners by the university system. This means that both undergraduate and graduate education in the area of plant and soil sciences as related to soybean production is of paramount importance. Thus, the MSPB continues its focus on recruitment to ensure a continuing supply of qualified scientists and practitioners in the soybean production area.

Activities in three areas have been initiated and are ongoing.

• The Board and its staff and communications contractor, Osborn–Barr, conceived and promoted the MSPB’s active involvement in the recruitment of students into the Agricultural Science field by soliciting presentations and involvement by Agricultural Professionals and Board Members at student-attended conventions and conferences, by sponsoring awards for graduate student paper and poster presentations at professional meetings, and by producing a high school recruitment video that is posted on the MSPB website.

In the video, Drs. Rusty Smith, Jeff Ray, Brian Scheffler, and Tom Eubank discuss the requirements, conduct, and job opportunities of their respective agricultural disciplines of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Plant/Crop Physiology, Bioinformatics, and Agronomy. This presentation is designed to offer high school seniors insight into the advantages of pursuing agricultural science degrees, as well as the job opportunities following both baccalaureate and post-graduate degree receipt.

• The MSPB has established the T.S. Bufkin, Alan Blaine, Ed Hester, and Billy Moore Soybean Doctoral Fellowships at Mississippi State University (MSU)–College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) to promote the advanced educational development of soybean scientists in production agriculture disciplines.

The intention of this program is to attract high-quality doctoral candidates who will advance his/her education toward improving ways to grow soybeans. Funds for this Fellowship are made available by the MSPB to MSU. The Fellowship provides an annual stipend of $30,000 plus tuition and fees for up to three years, plus a funded research project not to exceed $30,000 per year for that period provided that satisfactory progress towards degree completion occurs. The financial commitment of the Board to these three-year Fellowships is now over $210,000 per year. The application packet for the most recently funded Billy Moore Fellowship can be found in the MSPB/Checkoff Section of MSPB’s website at www.mssoy.org.

• During the 2013-2014, 2014-2015, and 2015-2016 project years, the MSPB funded over $407,000, $460,000, and $456,000, respectively, in graduate research assistantships that are a portion of the approved funds for more than one-third of the Board’s funded research and extension projects in each of the above project years.

Funding these assistantships will ensure that leaders of MSPB-funded projects have the opportunity to provide a hands-on research experience for graduate students. This on-the-job training for these students will complement and supplement their academic training in the various disciplines represented by the sponsored projects.

Composed by Larry G. Heatherly, Mar. 2015, larryheatherly@bellsouth.net