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University of Georgia professor John M. Ruter will receive
the
prestigious D.W. Brooks
Award for Excellence in Public Service for research Oct. 2 in
Athens, Ga.
Ruter is a professor of horticulture and a researcher at the
UGA College of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences’ Coastal Plain
Experiment
Station in Tifton, Ga.
In 1990, he began developing applied and basic research programs
to support Georgia’s
container and field nursery industries. He developed a nursery
crop production research
site which as become a design model for the industry.
The research Ruter has developed in this facility includes a
“Pot-In-Pot”
production system for container-grown plants that reduces
environmental stress on the
plants’ root system. The system provides an inexpensive
insulating layer around the pot
containing the root system of the growing plant. As a result,
the
plant’s roots have lower
temperatures and use less water, fewer plants are lost to
toppling and growers and plants
grow faster. The economic impact of the system is estimated at
$45 million.
National
Leader
Ruter is a national leader in developing improved
fertilization and irrigation
strategies for the container nursery industry. The importance of
the research is magnified
by concerns about nutrient concentrations in runoff water. His
research in slow-release
fertilizer formulations will save an estimated 30 million pounds
of fertilizer use in
Georgia alone. His research is helping growers cope with a
diminishing water supply and
reducing the risk of contaminating groundwater.
Another challenge facing the industry was cutting down on the
amount of plastic waste
ending up in landfills. Ruter’s research investigated using
copper hydroxide-impregnated
fiber containers and expanded the market of fiber pots. He
showed
that fiber pots
increased plant growth over plastic pots and increased the
growers’ profits. Ruter’s
research is a benchmark for sensible scientific effort towards
resolving emerging
environmental concerns.
D.W. Brooks Awards,
Lecture
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
are: Eddie McGriff, county extension programming; Michael Dirr,
teaching; Steve L. Brown,
extension; 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.
