Steve L. Brown

University of Georgia professor Steve L. Brown will be
awarded
the prestigious D. W. Brooks Award for Excellence in Public
Service
for extension Oct. 2 in Athens, Ga.

Brown, a professor and extension specialist in the College
of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Department of
Entomology,
is a widely recognized expert in integrated management of pests
in peanuts and stored products.

His work is centered in two distinctly different program
areas.
He has been instrumental in finding a solution to tomato spotted
wilt virus, one of Georgia peanut producers’ most damaging
diseases.
By 1995 the virus had become the greatest yield-limiting factor
for the billion-dollar Georgia peanut industry and had a severe
impact on other Georgia-grown crops, including tobacco, tomatoes
and peppers.

Tomato Spotted Wilt
Virus

Brown played a key role on a team of scientists that
developed
practical programs and solutions to TSWV. He developed the UGA
Spotted Wilt Risk Index, a planning tool that assesses the risk
of producer practices. Using hundreds of on-farm observations,
the index is refined each year.

While TSWV continues to be a threat to the Georgia peanut
industry,
the risk index has proven to be an accurate predictor of TSWV.
It allows growers to avoid the devastating losses of previous
years.

The risk index has yielded greater net returns for Georgia
peanut producers. Economic analysis of the risk index shows that
for each percent decrease in risk index value, the net return
per acre increased by more than $11 in 1998. This resulted in
an increase of $133 to $280 per acre.

Besides his work with TSWV, Brown is a leading expert in the
Southeast for insect control in stored grains, peanuts and
cottonseed
and for postharvest entomology. Brown oversees the South’s only
demonstration grain treatment and storage facility, which
provides
hands-on training for county Extension agents and growers.

Other Winners

The annual Brooks awards are presented to UGA College of
Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences faculty who excel in teaching,
research,
extension and international agriculture. The awards include a
framed certificate and a $5,000 cash award.

Other honorees this year were: Eddie McGriff, county
extension
programming; Michael Dirr, teaching; John Ruter, research; and
Manjeet Chinnan, international agriculture.

Before the awards ceremony, William F. Kirk, vice president
of DuPont Biosolutions Enterprise, will deliver the D.W. Brooks
Lecture: “The 21st Century — An Agribusiness
Odyssey.”

The lecture and awards are named for the late D.W. Brooks,
founder and chairman emeritus of Gold Kist, Inc., and founder
of Cotton States Mutual Insurance Companies. Brooks was an
advisor
on agriculture and trade issues to seven U.S. presidents.