BOZEMAN – The Montana Agricultural Experiment Station (MAES) at Montana State University has hired a nationally renowned cropping systems specialist who brings a regional understanding of agricultural production in Montana.
Patrick Carr, currently a research professor at North Dakota State University – Dickinson Research and Extension Center, will join the faculty of MSU’s Central Agricultural Research Center (CARC) at Moccasin in February as an associate professor of cropping systems.
Carr is known regionally and nationally for his work on no-till in cropping systems, integration of peas and annual forage crops into cereal crop rotations, research on the economic and environmental effects of reduced tillage and crop rotations in dryland agriculture, in addition to addressing barriers of organic crop production.
Carr will bring a new research capacity to the station's charge of directly serving a six-county area of central Montana wheat and barley farmers, according to Barry Jacobsen, associate director of the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station and department head of MAES research centers.
“We are very excited to recruit a scientist with national recognition like Dr. Carr for this position,” Jacobsen said. “His expertise parallels our research needs and initiatives in developing cropping systems for dryland agriculture – which is the majority of Montana agriculture.”
Carr graduated from MSU in 1989 with a doctorate in crop and soil science. He also has master’s degrees in technology and human affairs from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and in natural resources from Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. He received a bachelor’s of science in biology from Saint Meinrad College in Indiana. Since 1992, Carr has been at a North Dakota State University research extension center with an adjunct teaching appointment at Dickinson State University. In 2015, Carr was named a fellow of the American Society of Agronomy. He also holds many other honors and recognitions in sustainable agriculture, plant sciences, soil and water conservation and extension service activities and has served on numerous national and international agronomy and crop science boards. Carr has also held review and panel manager positions with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and National Institute of Food and Agriculture Organic Transitions and Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative grant programs.
“I’m excited about the opportunity to work with Montana farmers and others in the design, implementation and maintenance of agricultural systems that are practical, economical and environmentally sustainable,” Carr said. “I am equally grateful for the opportunity to work and interact with the many seasoned scientists within the MAES as well as with others on the central campus and throughout the state.”
Carr’s research will have state-wide implications, said David Wichman, supervisor at the Central Agricultural Research Station.
“I’m excited about Dr. Carr coming on board at the CARC and the wealth of experience and talent he has in cropping systems research and supporting local and regional producers in crop production and market growth,” he said. “Carr has developed improved production methods for an array of crops, including cereal grains, pulses and oil seeds, and he’s investigated the impacts of tillage and no-till production systems – areas of major interest for Montana’s agricultural community.”
Wichman noted that Carr also has some previous connections with the CARC. In the mid-1990s, Carr directed spring cereal forage variety evaluations in southwest North Dakota, which ultimately contributed to the development and release of the MAES Lavina hooded hay barley.
MAES has seven research centers located across the state that address production challenges in regard to crop and animal production, pest management, agricultural water management and market growth.
Source: MSU News Service
