By Faith Peppers
University of
Georgia

University of Georgia professor Gerrit Hoogenboom received the
prestigious D.W. Brooks Faculty Award for Excellence in
International Agriculture Oct. 1 in Athens, Ga.

Hoogenboom is an internationally known researcher in the
development and application of crop simulation models, decision
support systems and agrometeorology.

He coordinated the development of the Decision Support System
for
Agrotechnology Transfer since the early 1990s among various
national and international institutions.

DSSAT is a computer-based system that includes models for more
than 20 agronomic crops, data utility tools and application
programs for seasonal, crop rotation and spatial application of
crop models.

Since 1994, more than 1,000 copies of DSSAT have been sold and
distributed to users in more than 90 countries. Users include
researchers, educators, consultants, farmers, crop insurers and
many others associated with agribusiness.

Measuring climate’s impact

Several agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency and the U.S. Agency for International Development, have
used DSSAT to determine the potential impact of climate change
and climate variability on agricultural production, resource use
and potential pollution in the United States and abroad.

Hoogenboom developed special short-term training programs on
crop
modeling and Geographic Information Systems. These one-on-one
programs have been used by the United Nations Food and
Agricultural Organization, UN World Meteorological Service, UN
Development Program and the World Bank.

He has conducted many workshops in the United States and abroad
and hosted many international scientists.

Hoogenboom is the vice-chair of the Scientific and Educational
Advisory Board of AGRHYMET in Niamey, Niger. He is a rapporteur
of the WMO Committee on the Status of Modeling in
agroclimatology.

Hoogenboom developed an automated weather station network for
the
UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. This
network has grown from three stations in 1991 to more than 45
stations in 2002.

Other winners

Other honorees this year were Rob Shewfelt, teaching; Sidney
Law,
county extension programming; John Baldwin, extension; and
Daniel
Fletcher, research.

The teaching award was the first of the D.W. Brooks awards to be
given. It was established in 1981 to recognize faculty members
who make outstanding contributions and maintain excellence in
the
CAES teaching program.

In 1983, the award was expanded to include research, extension
and county extension programs. An award for international
agriculture was added in 1988 and is given in even-numbered
years.

The awards include a framed certificate and a $5,000 cash
award.

Brooks lecture

Before the awards ceremony, Seth Carus, senior research
professor
in the Center for Counterproliferation Research at the National
Defense University, delivered the 2002 D.W. Brooks Lecture,
“Bioterrorism, Homeland Security and the Food Supply.”

The lecture and awards are named for the late D.W. Brooks,
founder and chairman emeritus of Gold Kist, Inc.

Brooks was an advisor on agriculture and trade issues to seven
U.S. presidents. He started Cotton States Mutual Insurance
Companies in 1941 to provide farmers insurance.

His many honors for contributions to global agriculture included
being the first inductee into the UGA Agricultural Hall of Fame.
He received the distinguished agribusiness award from the
Georgia
Agribusiness Council and was named Progressive Farmer magazine’s
“man of the year in agriculture in the South.”

The CAES sponsors the annual lecture series in his memory.