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“Sugarbeet Report” presented by NDSU Extension, features growing tips from NDSU sugar beet specialists and researchers.
This is the Sugarbeet Report, bringing you the latest information from NDSU throughout the sugar beet growing season. Today, we say goodbye to a friend and colleague, Tom Peters, NDSU and University of Minnesota Extension Sugarbeet Agronomist. Tom is retiring after twelve years. Tom, this wasn't your first job. Let's hear a little history.
Tom Peters:So I was a student at NDSU. I was a graduate student at NDSU during the nineteen eighties, Bruce, and I worked for doctor Alan Dexter. And I really admired Alan, and I still do to this day. And I wanted to be like him. I wanted to be an extension specialist. Well, that didn't work out for me, but I was fortunate that I worked for twenty five years at Monsanto Company, a lot of that time in the area of biotechnology. So many of the traits that were developed during my time were developed in conjunction with my teams, my programs. So we were very productive, and I had a wonderful career at Monsanto.
Bruce Sundeen:How did you transition to NDSU?
Tom Peters:Towards the end of my career, I was an administrator. To be honest with you, I did a lot of things that I didn't really enjoy doing as much. I got farther away from the science. So about that time, doctor Rod Lim, a professor at NDSU, called me and said, you know, there's an opening. It's your adviser's former position, Extension Sugarbeet. Are you interested? And I said, of course, I'm interested. And it was a perfect transition for my wife and I. We came to NDSU in 2014. And I would say my time at NDSU has been the crescendo, the cherry on top of the ice cream of my career.
Bruce Sundeen:So you're saying it isn't just work. It's something you love to do.
Tom Peters:Yeah. I always told people that sugar beets are my favorite crop, and here it was. It was the opportunity to work in sugar beets and really to sit in doctor Dexter's chair That really thrilled me.
Bruce Sundeen:As an extension agronomist, what are some highlights that stand out?
Tom Peters:In extension, the sugar beet growers are extremely interested in university information. I came here right at the end of the Roundup Ready Sugarbeet era where Roundup was no longer working as well as it did previously. So we pivoted back to a conventional weed control program using Roundup in special cases on special weeds, and the adoption of those programs, especially for waterhemp control, stand out. And the collegiality between growers, the university, and the cooperatives is just amazing. It's a tremendous situation.
Bruce Sundeen:Tom, if you could do it over, what might you do differently?
Tom Peters:I spent too much time working on glyphosate resistance. It was an important topic because we needed solutions, but I wish I would have pivoted faster to non herbicide solutions. In my opinion, Bruce, we are at the beginning of the end of the herbicide revolution for weed control and we need to look for other solutions. And I think if I would have done it over again, I would have worked quicker to find those solutions. Another one is the evolution to these AI techniques where the see and spray ideas where we're identifying weeds and crop. I think we could have been a little further along in that if I would have pivoted sooner. I felt in the present, I've gotta get solutions for growers right now for today or for the next growing season. And that balance between the short term and the longer term is really tricky.
Bruce Sundeen:Tom, personally and professionally, you're going to be missed.
Tom Peters:It's been a privilege and an honor to work in the university system. It's been a privilege and an honor to support Sugarbeet growers.
Bruce Sundeen:Thank you, Tom. We wish you the best. Our guest has been Tom Peters, NDSU and University of Minnesota Extension Sugarbeet Agronomist. This is the Sugarbeet Report, bringing you the latest information from NDSU throughout the sugar beet growing season.