Agricultural News
Area Extension Specialist Roger Gribble Retiring at End of the Year
Thu, 19 Dec 2013 04:54:29 CST
After thirty two years of service in the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service- the last twenty as Northwest Area Agronomist- Roger Gribble retires on December 31st. Friends and supporters of Gribble saluted him during a reception on Wednesday afternoon at the OSU Extension offices in Enid. Gribble replaced Dale Fain as the area specialist in one of the most wheat intensive parts of the southern plains.
Gribble pointed out to Farm Director Ron Hays in an interview on Wednesday that most acres of farmland in the counties he served back in the early 1990s could only be planted with wheat- with some acres diverted to alfalfa. That began to change after the passage of the Freedom to Farm Act in 1996- and diversification of farmland in his district and across much of Oklahoma and the southern plains has been nothing short of remarkable.
Gribble says the crop that has most suprised him in these years of diversification has been soybeans- he was skeptical that soybeans could be adapted to the area. But- "we had good researchers and good extension people on campus who came out and trained me up on it and then we were able to spread the news" which allowed soybeans to become a profitable part of the crop mix seen today in several counties in the north central part of the state.
Roger Gribble has also seen the rise of winter canola as a viable rotational crop for winter wheat. He rightly called it "Dr. Peeper's project" and said that as early adopters jumped on board and extension beat the drum that this was a crop that could improve wheat by breaking up the weed cycle that was taking over many fields- the key to real expansion came as the ag industry bought into canola and helped grow the acres year by year.
Ron's full conversation with Roger Gribble can be heard by clicking on the LISTEN BAR below.
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