Bob Kemerait – 2022 Service to American Agriculture Award

Dr. Bob Kemerait, UGA Crop Pathologist, was this year’s recipient of NACAA’s Service to American Agriculture Award.  He was nominated by a whole host of Extension agents from both Georgia and Florida. Their nomination application was over 10,000 words in length, even though the instructions clearly stated 1,000 words or less.  Therefore, they reduced the font size to 8 pt. to make it fit.

Bob is a professor of plant pathology at the University of Georgia, Coastal Plain Experiment Station, near Tifton, Georgia.  As an extension specialist, he is responsible for providing information about the management of diseases affecting agronomic crops, such as peanut, cotton, corn, and soybean.

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Work with County Agents

Bob passionately believes that one of the most important aspects of his career has been to mentor new agents. He has developed and conducted in-service trainings in each of the four districts of Georgia to prepare agents for issues they will face with growers and homeowners regarding disease diagnosis and management. Bob has also developed a great lecture titled “How to survive your first troubleshooting visits without feeling like an idiot”, a resource that many new extension agents need. Bob will make sure that agents receive email updates (sometimes hourly) and timely Twitter posts to ensure that we have the most current information needed to be confident as we do our jobs.

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International Work

Bob is also deeply committed to helping those less fortunate around the world. It was this passion that led him to a career in plant pathology. He has been actively engaged in international programs, working to improve the lives of poor and impoverished farmers and their families, especially in the Philippines and Haiti.

Dr. Patricia Wolff, Founder and CEO of Meds and Foods for Kids, located in Haiti stated, “He has improved the lives and livelihoods of smallholder peanut farmers in Haiti. Our list of skills needed was long and our list of skills available was short. He rolled up his sleeves and dug into our situation with excellent, pragmatic, and culturally appropriate problem-solving methods.” This approach has proven to be successful and one of the Haitian farmers responded, “We’ve received shipments of rice but receiving handouts can take your dignity. This is the first person who said they want to help with the real agricultural base of our region.”  For those of you who are his friends on Facebook, you are aware of his campaign to save a young girl’s life who is fighting leukemia in the Philippines.

If you see Dr. Bob Kemerait at AMPIC this week, congratulate him for his dedicated service to agriculture in the US and around the world!