CORPUS CHRISTI – Dr. Joshua McGinty has been hired as the new Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agronomist for South Texas. McGinty will be headquartered at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Corpus Christi.
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service has named Dr. Josh McGinty as the new agronomist for the Coastal Bend and Rio Grande Valley areas of Texas. (Photo courtesy of Josh McGinty)
“We are very pleased to have Dr. McGinty join our faculty,” said Dr. Mark McFarland, professor and associate head for AgriLife Extension’s department of soil and crop sciences in College Station. “He has excellent training and experience in agronomy, with particular emphasis on weed control.
“Josh will be a tremendous resource for agricultural producers in the Coastal Bend and Lower Rio Grande Valley, working closely with commodity groups and our local AgriLife Extension county agents to address important production issues.”
McGinty assumed his new position effective Sept. 1. He replaces Dan Fromme, who retired in December.
“I’m looking forward to working with the producers of the Texas Gulf Coast and Lower Rio Grande Valley,” he said. “I feel that my prior experiences will serve me well in this position. One of the greatest struggles here, as it is in much of Texas, is maintaining crop productivity in a moisture-limited environment. I have a great opportunity in this position to help promote water-efficient crop management practices that are applicable to the growers of this region.”
McGinty earned his bachelor of science degree in 2009 in natural resource management at Angelo State University in San Angelo. He earned his master’s degree in 2012 in rangeland ecology and management at Texas A&M University in College Station. He is scheduled to receive his doctorate in agronomy in December, also at Texas A&M.
As a graduate assistant at Texas A&M, McGinty researched a variety of issues including glyphosate resistant weeds, herbicide sprays using laser diffraction, range and pasture weed control, huisache control, bobwhite populations and habitat improvement.
McGinty is a member of the Weed Science Society of America, the Southern Weed Science Society and the Texas Plant Protection Association.
