Texas A&M AgriLife Expands Offerings at Nursery/Landscaping Expo
Texas A&M AgriLife offered a variety of booths recently at the Texas Nursery and Landscaping Association’s Nursery/Landscape Expo in San Antonio.
Booths for its Department of Horticultural Sciences, Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, AgriLife Extension and AgriLife Learn provided a variety of horticulture-related education, outreach and service opportunities. Its Texas Superstar booth allowed attendees to view various plants that have received the Texas Superstar designation.
“This expo provides a great networking opportunity for people in the green industry,” said Amit Dhingra, Ph.D., head of the Department of Horticultural Sciences in Texas A&M’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “It is also a great opportunity for us to build awareness of our department, reach out to young people interested in the green industry and reconnect with former students who are now employed in the industry.”
Dhingra and other horticultural sciences department personnel at the booth also reminded attendees of the revived Horticultural Sciences Tailgate set for Sept. 17 on the Texas A&M campus and the department’s ongoing pecan sale.
“We’re also taking the opportunity to focus on possible internship opportunities for students and networking to connect students and industry,” said Tammy Neel, program coordinator for high-impact experiential learning in the Department of Horticultural Sciences. “It’s important to make people aware of the many career opportunities in horticulture, such as landscaper, floral designer, nursery manager, research scientist, winemaker and more.”
Attendees also were exposed to the extensive print and digital educational materials and opportunities available through AgriLife Learn as part of Texas A&M AgriLife’s outreach at the expo, said Casey Matzke, AgriLife Extension educational product specialist.
“While most of the materials we are focusing on during the expo are horticulture-related, we have publications and educational materials on a wide variety of topics, including health and wellness, child care, gardening, livestock, food safety, agriculture, natural resources and others,” Matzke said.
Many AgriLife Learn resources are free or at a nominal cost, and many are also available in Spanish.
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