Todd Baughman is director of the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Lubbock. His priorities are the continued development of research and Extension programs that support the agricultural industry in the Southern High Plains and that ensure the success and viability of producers and agricultural industry in that region. Cotton is one of the key commodities in the region, along with corn, grain sorghum, peanuts, and wheat. Water is also a major concern, including irrigation, rainfall, and water conservation. Baughman earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agronomy from Oklahoma State University and his doctorate in weed science from Mississippi State University.
Ken Lege is an Extension cotton specialist at the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension and Research Center at Lubbock. He has worked in the cotton industry for nearly 40 years and considers himself cotton’s biggest advocate. While his career began as a cotton specialist at Clemson University, he has spent much of his profession developing cotton varieties with companies such as Monsanto, Delta & Pine Land Company, SureGrow Seed, and most recently, Corteva Agriscience.
Marina Rondon is an assistant professor at the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension and Research Center at Lubbock. Her areas of specialization are nematodes and plant pathology, and she applies this expertise to protect and improve production of cotton, peanuts, and other important regional crops. Rondon’s interest in plant pathology developed in her home country of Brazil, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agronomy. She came to the United States to pursue a doctoral degree in plant pathology from Auburn University, which she completed in 2020.
Hope Nakabuye is an assistant professor in agricultural engineering/irrigation at the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension and Research Center at Lubbock. Her work has focused on agricultural water management using sensor-based technologies for irrigation scheduling, and she has managed day-to-day operations of a subsurface drip irrigation system for more than 200 research zones. She earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural mechanization and irrigation engineering from Busitema University in her native Uganda; a master’s degree of technology in soil and water engineering from Bidhan Chandra Krishi Vishwavidyalaya in India; and a PhD in biological engineering at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
Andrew Wright is an assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and the Extension economist for Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Lubbock. He is also a member of the Southern Agricultural Economics Association and the Agriculture and Applied Economics Association. Before joining AgriLife, Andrew was a faculty member in the Department of Agriculture at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas; there, he taught multiple courses in agricultural economics and agribusiness and advised both undergraduate and graduate students. Andrew has a BA in economics from Truman State University and a master’s in public administration, an MA in economics, and a PhD in agricultural and applied economics from Texas Tech University.
